Fate's Tricky Methods
by ilovenutella99
Summary: Everything happen's for a reason. There's a reason why I was reaped. There's a reason why Undersee is my mentor. Undersee, the one who merely sighed as the last two tribtues died, the one who has changed since the Games, the Victor who's bitter, cold, and broken.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: These characters are all Suzanne Collins, not mine. I can dream, can't I?**

* * *

From the moment I step into my own trap, I know it's going to be a really bad day. I mean, I already knew it was going to be a bad day, as it's the reaping, but this whole incident gave me a worse feeling about it.

Ever since last year, when Madge freaking Undersee won the Hunger Games, nothing, and I mean nothing, in Panem has been the same. More mine collapses, shortages of food, the big shabang. I don't even know why we're having all of these problems, God, I don't think anyone does. Except for Undersee, most likely. Katniss told me that she's different now, acts weird around people outside of her family loop. But that's what the Games do to you. They change you. No one's ever come back the same after it.

I honestly don't know how Undersee won the Games. By pure luck maybe. And her thousands of sponsors, can't forget that. Apparently, in the Capitol, Undersee was considered the most beautiful person to ever win the Games. Yeah, I'll admit it. She is beautiful. Ever since she's come back, people left and right have been trying to hook up with her, but she'll always deny, apparently.

So while I'm stuck in this trap, that's what I'm thinking about. Not feeding my family, not the upcoming Games, but Undersee. Of all people. Of all people in the entire country I think about her.

I finally manage to get myself out of the stupid trap I decided to put right on the side of the path, and then I step in it. Typical. Once back on my feet, I check the rest of the snare line. Every year, all children under the age of 18 and above the age of twelve are in the reaping while everyone else watches. Waiting to see who gets sent off to their deaths this year.

I check the rest of the snareline and don't get much today, just a couple of rabbits. Somewhere during my work, Katniss comes and joins me. Silent as a wisp, I can't even hear her until she wishes me good luck.

"Yeah. You too." There's a very good chance that either of us could be going into the Games, I have forty-six slips, she has twenty-seven. The odds are not in our favor.

For a while now, I haven't known my feelings toward her. Sometimes, she'll drive me crazy. Other times.. I don't know. I know I love her, I just don't know about which way I do. It's confusing. Luckily, Katniss is completely oblivious to everything. A lot of guys like her, I know they do, but she's too blinded from wanting to keep Prim alive all these years to notice.

All to soon, it's time to go back home for the reaping. I remember this day last year. I even made that retarded comment to Undersee about how she wouldn't get reaped, and then, look at that, she was reaped! I felt like an ass after that.

"See you in a bit."

"Yeah." I grunt, and then continue to walk away to my house.

As soon as I'm in the door, I'm assaulted by Posy, my five year old sister. She jumps at me, laughing her head off, and I scoop her up into my arms, hanging her upside down by her feet.

"Gale, stop it!" She screeches, but she's laughing all the same. The fun ends when my mother comes into the room, a stern look on her face, her arms crossed.

"Fine, fine. I'll get ready." I grumble and deposit Posy on our withering old couch as the floorboards creek. I go and clean up in the washbin and then pull on the faded blue shirt I wore last year. It's a little to small, so it's uncomfortable. As I'm the only one in my family who is in the Reaping this year, I have to look the best. Unfortunately. Once back in the small living room, I shovel down some food and my mom comes up to me after forcing Posy into one of Prim's old dresses.

"One more year." She mumbles, rubbing a smudge of dirt off of my face.

"For him. There are like six more for me. Rory mumbles, coming into the room.

"You'll be fine, Rory." I ruffle his hair. "There are thousands of other people, it couldn't be me, or you for that matter." Trying to reassure him as well as myself.

"Mama, what's going on?" Posy comes up and tugs on my mother dress and she reaches down and picks her up.

"Nothing Posy. Just forget it, it's fine." She pulls on Posy's braid, brushing hair out her face.

And all to soon, it's time to go to the reaping. My family walks in silence, with me and Rory trailing in the back. Posy's babbling from in front of us makes me grin. The grin slides off of my face when I have to say good-bye to get in line to check in. Rory comes up behind m and then gets his finger pricked, and then it's my turn. The peacekeeper pricks my finger with that needle and makes sure it's actually me. I go to stand in my section and Thom comes up behind me.

"Well this sucks."

"Really, because I thought it was wonderful." I say, sarcasm dripping in my voice.

"Hey, I'm just joking, man. Keep your pants on." I go to give him some retort when Mayor Undersee and everyone else comes onto the stage. Effie Trinket, Haymitch Abernathy, and Undersee. Haymitch, of course is as drunk as ever and practically crawls up the stage, vomiting once he's up there. He's a disgrace. He can't even walk on his own two feet. Undersee, on the other hand, keeps her poise. I can imagine after one year with Haymitch she'd be able to handle him. Though, she looks different than last year. Has looked different. After her Victory Tour nothing was the same. She started flinching every time someone touched her and such.

Mayor Undersee begins to read the Treaty of Treason like every year, and then it's that time. Effie Trinket squeals and walks to the giant glass bowl with thousands of names in it.

"Naomi Ceren." Do I know the girl? Yeah. The entire district does. She was pregnant when she was 16. Had a miscarriage. She's my age now. The baby was Cray's. Awkward for conversation. She's been one of those girls. The one's who mess around a lot. I mean, I mess around, but never go that far. She's on the stage now. Typical Seam girl, but her eyes are browner than most of ours. Now she's smirking at everyone, like she wants to be here.

Now Effie's going to the bowl with my name in there fourty-six times. When she pulls out the slip, I feel like I'm going to be sick. "Gale Hawthorne." And just like that, I'm in the 74th Hunger Games.

My name echoes across the building's and I hear Posy yelling my name. I will not look weak. I refuse to look weak today, nor any of the other days that I'll be stuck in the Capitol, awaiting my death.

Slowly, I step out of line and begin the long walk to the stage. When I'm on the step, Undersee glances at me. Her eyes are empty and cold. I wonder if she'll be happy when I die, if I do. If not, I'll be stuck around her for the rest of my life, with my only neighbors are her and Haymitch. I blink twice and our gaze breaks. On the stage, Effie tells Naomi and I to shake hands, and I reach for Naomi's hand. It's cold and empty also. She gives me a seductive smile and groan inwardly. She's going to be like that, then.

* * *

How does one manage to fit a lifetime of good-byes into three minutes? How? I would love to know the answer, because I have to do that _now_. My hands are on the windowsill when my family comes barreling in, two of them have evidently been crying. Posy's in my arms first.

"I don't want you to go Gale!" She shrieks and my arms wrap around her.

"I have to, Pose, I don't have a choice." I manage and she starts to cry. "Oh, don't cry. I'll be back before you know it."

"Really?" Her tearful eyes look up at me.

"Yeah. I'll be back. I love you, so much." I'm making a promise I can't keep. This is bad. She peels out and Vick comes forward next. My baby brother. The youngest of the dream team. Me, Rory and Vick.

"Don't cry. Hold it together for Posy." I tell him as I hold him close to me and try to memorize him, the way that he tries to prevent crying, but does anyways.

"You have to come back, Gale."

"I'm going to. Remember that. Whatever you see on the screen, remember that I'm coming home. I love you." He wipes his face and moves away. Rory's next. My baby brother whom I hated when he was born. The youngest, but the oldest after I'm gone.

"Listen. Katniss will teach you to hunt. She'll help."

"I won't have to learn. Cause you'll be coming home. You will." I hold him to me and try to shush him. If they cry, I will cry, and if I cry, I will be targeted as weak, and if I'm targeted as weak... Well the cycle goes on and on.

"Keep believing that. I love you."

And finally, my mother. "Oh, my baby. My handsome boy. It's been a wonder watching you grow up." She cups my cheek and I pull her hand down as tears make their way into her eyes. "Your father would be so proud of you."

"Ma..." I begin but she stops me by holding me tight.

"When you come back, we'll still love you. Even if you're different, you're still you."

"You said when."

"I have no doubt that you can't do this, because you can. I know you can." My family joins in the hug and I savor this. The last embrace of my family. I memorize the way they all look and they way they all smell. Like home.

"I love you. I love you all." The peacekeepers are in now. They pull my family away from me, but Rory jumps back into my arms.

"I love you. I have to go, I love you." I won't say good-bye. I will not. Even if it is goodbye.

I hear Posy yell my name one more time and then they're gone. Just like that. Before I can even process it, Katniss and Prim are coming in. They're both in my arms, and Prim's crying. I think Katniss is even shedding some tears.

"You're going to come home. You won't die." Katniss says pulling Prim away from me. "You can get a bow, you can." Something bubbles inside my chest, something I can't describe. "You can shoot, not as well as me, but you can shoot." Typical. Katniss saying she's better than me when I'm going to die. "You're a survivor."

Prim starts crying again and Katniss attempts to comfort her but she comes to me.

"Take care of Rory for me, make sure he's okay. Okay?" She smiles a bit and I give her another hug. Katniss comes to me next. There's that feeling again.

"Don't die on me."

"I won't. Shoot some squirrels for me." Then, Katniss and Prim are gone too. Thom comes in next, actually hugging me and saying that he jinxed it and that he's sorry and all that jazz.

Then, I'm being shoved into a car next to Effie and Naomi, who bats her eyelashes at me a few times in the car. In the car, I tune out Effie and look at my district. The coal covered streets, the tops of the trees in the woods, my woods, that I'll probably never see again. I look at the old houses in the Seam and the gray mines and the houses in town. I look at the people, the people who I know, the people who I resent or like.

Before I know it, I'm stuck on a train going to my intimate death. Everything is so different here. There's these glass tables made of wood I can't describe, and so many colors. The food set out on the table makes my mouth water. There's everything; meat, fruit, vegetables, even cookies. I'll have to make sure to bring one back for Posy if I make it home. That pangs behind my eyes, making me remember how there are twenty-three others trying to get home also. They also have families, but I'm pretty damn sure that they don't love them as much as I love my family.

The first thing that's said to me on the train is, "Oh, this'll be _great_."

What fun.

* * *

_A/N: So, I chose Gale's point of view because I thought it would be interesting. As a timeline, Madge won the 73rd Games and Gale and Naomi are in the 74th. Naomi is an... interesting character, I'll say. What do y'all think? Oh, and pieces of Madge's Games will be revealed later in the story. I would love to hear your thoughts!_


	2. Chapter 2

I whip my head around to see none other than Haymitch Abernathy behind me.

"Great. Two more kids who can go and get slaughtered." I glare at him and Naomi does the same.

"Budge up, Abernathy," says a voice from behind him, "go take a bath." Naomi actually laughs at this, though I honestly can't see why it's so funny. The voice in question slides past Haymitch as he lumbers out of the room, and I hear some choice swear words come from his mouth.

"Honestly, one day, I'm going to wash that man's mouth out with soap." Effie Trinket, the peacock, comes in and glances at the hallway in which Haymitch went down. Undersee laughs, but it's hallow. There's no emotion in it. Same with her blue eyes. They're empty.

"Trust me Effie, I've been threatening that for the last year." Her voice is even hallow.

"Uh, don't we get rooms?" Naomi speaks from next to me and Effie jumps a bit.

"Oh! Where are my manners! Right this way you two!" Naomi follows first, holding her head high in front of me. I glance at Undersee quickly to find her sitting in one of the chairs, staring at the ground, face black. What on earth? This is not the Undersee Katniss told me about.

* * *

Once in my room, that's bigger than like four houses in the Seam combined, I don't shower, only change clothes. I don't want to erase the bit of Seam off of me that's still there just yet. That'll happen tomorrow, apparently.

While the hour sits in the air, I don't even know what to do. Everything is so different here. It's like it's a different world, but in a way, it is. The Capitol is different from District 12, by a lot. Here, they like extravagant. At home, everything is simple. Here, it's very bright and colorful. There, it's dull and covered in coal dust. Here, they love the Games. At home, they hate it.

Effie Trinket knocks on my door quickly, telling me it's time to eat. That went by faster than expected. I come out and begin walking as Naomi does too.

"So what do you think they're going to tell us?"

"Who knows?" I mutter out and we walk in silence to the dining car behind Effie, who really does look like a peacock, now that I think about it. We go back into the dining room to find Haymitch drinking some sort of alcohol and Undersee is staring at the ground still.

We sit down in silence and wait for a minute.

"Aren't you guys supposed to give us some advice?"

"Here's some advice: don't win." Undersee stands after she says that and leaves. My eyes follow her until she leaves. She still looks the same, yeah. Blonde hair, small frame, but her eyes seem different. They're more faded than I remember when we would give strawberries.

"Don't mind her, she's just a little ray of sunshine lately." Haymitch mutters and Effie leaves to go find her.

"So? Advice?" Naomi asks irritably and Haymitch looks at her with bloodshot eyes.

"Slow down, girl. Wait till we get there."

"When we get there it'll be too late to help us." Naomi hisses at him and Haymitch's eyes narrow.

They go back and forth for a little until I budge in. "How the hell did you manage to get someone home? You can't even walk straight, for God's sake!"

"He didn't do anything to help me." I hadn't realized Undersee had come back. "I got out on my own." She sits down in the chair across from me and next to Haymitch.

"Well, how?" Naomi demands and Undersee's eyes narrow quickly.

"First things first, since he's not going to be the adult here," she jabs her thumb in Haymitch's direction as he swigs from a bottle, "do you want to be mentored together or separate."

"Separate." I spout out immediately and Naomi hesitantly nods next to me.

"Okay. Eat up then." Undersee tells us and we do, but she doesn't touch the food. The food is extravagant, and it's so different from home where most of the time we eat squirrels I've shot.

Haymitch speaks in a minute. "So what are your strengths?"

Naomi laughs quickly. "I'm only going to tell my mentor that. I don't want anyone else to know. It will ruin the surprise."

He stares at her for a moment. "Well what about you, scowly?"

I scowl again and he smirks. "I'll do the same as Naomi and not tell my skills until I get a mentor."

"So that's how this is going to be? Fine." Haymitch says and glares at the two of us. We all finish eating in silence and then Haymitch tells us to go to the sitting room to watch the rest of the reapings.

Once in the room, the reapings start quickly. The usual, idiots from 1 and 2, underfed children from the rest of the Districts. The District 12 reapings come on and Haymitch leans forward on his knees and examines us as we walk up.

"Gale, you look..." Effie trails off and Undersee snorts into her hand.

"Yes, you look so amused." I look at my scowling figure on screen and have to agree. I really look like I want to be there. The television shuts off and Haymitch sighs.

"Go get some sleep. Tomorrow's... something else." Haymitch says and Undersee snorts again. Naomi and I stand and leave to go to our rooms to sleep. I step in the shower and stare at the thousands of buttons present. I don't even know where to begin. So, I randomly press a few and end up cursing when jets of icy water squirt at me.

It was not fun, and I pass out immediately once I'm on the bed.

* * *

I wake around midnight from a nightmare about Rory having to be here. I need water. I climb out of bed and walk to the door silently before pulling it open. Quickly, I trek down the train to where the dining room is but, before I get there, I hear voices in the sitting room. Undersee and Haymitch.

"Which one do you want?"

"I thought I had the girl. That's what I was told, though."

"Since it's your first year, I'm being nice and letting you choose."

"Wow, Haymitch is being nice. Never thought I'd see the day." Undersee laughs that hallow laugh that bothers me. "Which one should I have?"

"The girl or the boy, your pick."

"Really, Haymitch, I thought I was going to have the half-dog one." She spits out sarcastically and while I get the feeling I really shouldn't be listening, I am, and I can't stop listening.

"Seriously, princess, which one? I honestly think you'd get along with the girl better."

"Why's that?"

"Well you both do the same thing, I mean.."

"Excuse me?" She hisses at Haymitch; he obviously offended her. "She enjoys it, Haymitch! I hate it!"

"Now, princess-" His voice begins to take on a serious note.

"No! Let me talk! It's hard, Haymitch, it's hard to have to deal with it every night that I'm here in this stupid Capitol! I hate it, Haymitch. Maybe if I would've just died in that arena then I wouldn't be in this mess! Maybe if I had died already I wouldn't have tried to drown myself. Haymitch, I wanted to die. I didn't want to make it out of there!"

"Princess, I know it's hard, but you have to deal with it-"

"I am dealing with it! I'm trying Haymitch. You don't know what it's like to be forced to do something you don't want to do or someone who know and love will die. You don't know, Haymitch!" She's crying now, I can tell my the way her voice shakes and well it's not hard to figure it out.

"I do know what it's like, because believe it or not, I lost family too! Not only your aunt, whom I would've loved to keep alive, but my family! My girlfriend, princess!"

"You aren't the one who saw a twelve-year-old incinerated! You aren't the one who saw two people being ripped apart by mutts! You aren't the one who lost their virginity at the age of sixteen on your Victory Tour!"

I can't say that I'm shocked. I'm _floored_. I am completely and utterly shocked. So Undersee's one of those Victors. The ones who have to sell their body to the Capitol residents. Finnick Odair is like that too. I back into the wall and hope they can't see me. Undersee walks by, sobbing. I don't even breathe or move or anything. I wait for at least thirty minutes before moving again.

It's not until I'm in my room that I really process what just happened. Undersee is a prositute. Not by choice, though. Idiotic President Snow forced her, I bet my house that it's true. It's rape, God, it's rape! Undersee, the Mayor's daughter who has done nothing wrong her entire life, is being raped for the Capitol enjoyment.

It's sick, why they do it. For their enjoyment. And all because the Victor has a good body or whatever. I will admit it, Undersee is beautiful and yeah, I've had daydreams about her. And now, the fact that she's being _raped... _I dunno.

The rest of the night, I don't get any sleep. Everything I start thinking about always comes back to Undersee and what happens to her. I can't get it out of my head. I can't get _her_ out of my head. Maybe that's why Undersee's bitter now. Because of what she's seen and what she's been forced to do. I know she doesn't want to have to do it; she has no choice though.

* * *

_A/N: So as the story is just starting, I'll be getting the chapters out quickly, but then after a few they won't come as quickly. So we all know what's happening to Madge now. Sucks huh? Should I change the rating because of it? Confrontation over it will be coming soon. Review!_


	3. Chapter 3

I don't get a wink of sleep. I'm too shocked. The fact that she's being raped bothers me, a lot more than it should. It makes me mad that they're doing this to her. She's not the only one though. That's the thing. It's bothering me because it's her. Maybe it's because I personally know her. God, I don't know. All I really know is how much the damn thing is bothering me.

I'm up before Effie bangs on my door. I need to get out of this claustrophobic room. I throw on some different clothes and charge out the door as Effie knocks on Naomi's door.

"My, you're up early!"

"I'm hungry." I grunt to her and continue my way down the train. I skirt around the edges of the sitting room. I hope I never have to see it again.

Haymitch is the only one in the dining room when I enter. And for once, he's not drinking. He has coffee in his hand. I've had coffee once before after my first day in the mines. I nearly gagged from the taste of it. I sit down across from Haymitch as Naomi and Effie come in, both looking irritated. I can only imagine.

"So, we've decided who's going to be mentored by who. Naomi, you're going to be mentored by me." Good riddance, Undersee probably doesn't want to mentor her. "And Gale, you get Madge."

I nod quickly and Naomi does the same. I'm just finishing my pancakes when Undersee comes in. Her eyes are red and puffy, the blue more bluer than I remember. Her hair is thrown up in some very messy bun that she put no care in at all. She stares down at her feet and sits down in her chair. Haymitch pushes food in front of her and motions to it.

"I'm not hungry." Her voice is cracky.

"You need to eat. It will be a long day." She glares at him and he backs off. I try not to stare at her, it's hard though. Because I know what happens to her every time she's in the Capitol. So that's why she jumps every time she's touched by someone, because she's afraid that they'll do something else to her. She catches me staring at her and I drop my eyes to my plate.

Haymitch does not miss the interaction. I think he plans on making this as awkward as he can. "Oh, so princess do you know scowly over here?"

She glares at him and then nods. He accepts the answer but his eyes have some weird mischievous sparkle that I've seen mirrored in Rory's so many times. Great.

Haymitch starts talking again. "So today your stylists get a hold of you. Good luck. Do whatever they say, and don't refuse."

"What if they want to shave my head?" I shoot out and he chuckles, but it Naomi who responds.

"They won't shave your head. Your hair's nice." She reaches up and runs her hand through it. I recoil and glare at her. She smiles seductively and I push myself away from the table.

"Don't touch me." I hiss and she shrugs, dropping her hand back into her lap, but she's still smiling that weird smile of hers. "I'm going back to my room. Tell me when we're there." I snap out and proceed to leave the room.

"Well, you think he would notice when a girl likes him, really." Effie scoffs and Naomi laughs, but it sounds fake. So very fake.

"Well..." Naomi trails off, and I know she's faking. She's even told me that she hated me, bout a year ago.

I barely have time to make it to my room before we're in the Capitol, and despite how much I hate it, it is still breathtaking. I hate saying that, but it's true. Effie forces us to stand in front of the window and wave. I don't. Naomi does though. She smiles and waves and winks and all that jazz.

Undersee's been quiet this entire time. I wonder if she was this quiet when she got here for the first time. Then again, she hadn't gone through the Games yet.

The train stops and Effie lines us up and the Mayor's daughter in Undersee comes out. She's smiling and acting like nothing is wrong and she's acting as if she's not in a lot of pain. Naomi and I go first, behind Effie that is, and the other follow. As soon as we're inside the Remake Center, Haymitch leaves, most likely to go find some liquor, Undersee is whisked away to God knows where and Effie leads Naomi and I to where we will be stuck for hours.

* * *

It's been four damn hours and I'm still being 'made over'. Apparently, I've had too much grim on me from District 12 and they have to rid me of it. The women, who has bright orange hair and jewels all over her body, named Aisliss, has been fixing my nails for the majority of the time, the man, who I'm not exactly sure is a man, named Milo and I'm not even going to begin to explain his appearance, has been messing with my hair and I'm greatly annoyed, and then there's Elowen. The last and last one of my prep team. She has the joy of clearing the rest of my body off, and I'm pissed at her.

Though, the chick is pretty amusing.

And finally, after around five grueling hours I'm finally deemed clean enough to see Portia. Who Portia is, I do not know, but I will soon find out. When the women comes in, she first throws a pair of shorts at me and I accept them gratefully.

"Jeez, you are taller than normal District 12 tributes."

"Thanks?"

"Not being offensive, just saying." She turns to me, and damn, she's under the radar. Hardly has any Capitol evidence on her.

"Are you new? I haven't seen you much."

"I just started last year, and my counterpart, Cinna, and I both wanted District 12."

"Why? We're nothing special."

"Humph. I don't belive that for a second. And I don't think you do, either. That Madge, who won last year, she's something special." I don't speak so she continues. "Anyways, for the Opening Ceremonies, we had to make some changes to the outfits because of the tributes. You know Naomi from home?"

I snort. "Everyone knows her. She's not exactly low on the radar."

"And why's that?"

"She was pregnant a couple of years ago."

"Well that's lovely." Portia changes the subject quickly. "No bother. Any who, so we don't have much time until the Ceremonies, so we better get you ready."

I remember last year how the tributes were on fire. I'm really wondering what death trap they're going to put us in this year.

* * *

So, about thirty minutes later, I'm walking down to the place where I'm going to wait.

"Portia," I groan, "I don't like this."

"I know you don't, but you have to deal with it." She grits her teeth and forces a smile when we enter the stables with the horses in it. I don't even attempt one. We're one of the last to arrive, minus Undersee. She's not here, neither is, I notice, Finnick Odair. Haymitch is talking to some other mentor, both drinking from some flasks, Effie is just squealing, checking her clipboard, Naomi is flirting with some guy from a different district, possibly District 1, and keeps twirling her hair. The guy's eyes keep dropping lower and lower on her body.

I'll go ahead and say it. She looks hot. Might as well get it out there now. She has on some skimpy thing, with some smoke cape thing that dark black. The dress hugs her curves in the right ways but I tear my gaze from her when Portia, and I'm guessing Cinna, start talking about something. I don't usually eavesdrop, scratch that, I always eavesdrop.

"She was different from Madge, that's for sure." Cinna tells Portia and I can't help but agree. Undersee is quiet, has always been, whereas Naomi isn't afraid to flaunt around. God only knows what she does in her spare time. Haymitch comes over, dragging Naomi with him.

"Listen up you two. Gale, I want you to look forward, not acknowledging the crowd or anything. Show that you can win this. Naomi.. Just.. Just don't fall over." I barely stifle my snort. I'm sure the crowd would love if she fell over.

The crowd starts cheering and Effie ushers us into the chariot. Portia clicks a button on my wrist and I feel the suit heat up. I'm a glowing ember, like fire, or coal. So I'm not actually on fire, but I'm pretty close.

District 1 rolls out of the exit quickly and District 2 follows after. Pretty soon, we're about to go out and Naomi is literally jumping in her spot. When we do go out, I don't even look at the crowd. I stare at the District 11 chariot even though I hear a ton of people calling my name. Naomi is squealing and blowing kisses and whatever else she does and I stare. That's how we work.

Once in the City Circle, President Snow gives us his little speech and stares at all of us. His stare lingers on us a bit to long for my liking and I think Naomi is going to say something until I notice she's eyeing the guy from 2. Gimme a break. Jeez.

We're driven under the Training Center where we will be kept for the next few days. Effie swamps us immediately, telling us how amazing we were. Cinna and Portia are next, Portia switches off my suit and Naomi squirms a little around Cinna. I can tell the guys irritated and I've known him for maybe fifteen minutes. Haymitch comes next, giving us the slow clap and tips his flask to me.

"Come on, you two. Time to go up."

Effie gushes over how we get the penthouse and everything. Once again, I'm awestruck by how much money they put into this place when the districts are in starvation. Haymitch tells us to go change and shower and then we'll eat and discuss strategy. So, I go to the room Effie tells me to go to and strip off the suit and step into the shower. I never will be able to figure out the buttons, but a shower is satisfying.

* * *

Twenty minutes later, we're all seated at the mahogany dining table, and still no sign of Undersee. Haymitch seems unconcerned as we all eat, though I'm concerned. It's bothering me that it's bothering me this much. I hardly know the girl, all I know about her is that she won the Hunger Games and is the Capitol's play toy. I will not say the word again; the word that makes my blood boil.

About halfway through dinner though, we hear soft footsteps on the ground from behind us and Naomi and I turn around to meet a tired Undersee. God, she looks like she's been run over by a truck. Her hair is back up in that messy bun, and her eyes are completely dull, I can hardly tell that they were blue. They're a dull grey now. She meets my eyes momentarily before she drops them to the ground.

She walks to the other side of the table and drops the bag she was carrying at her feet and sits down next to Haymitch.

"Sorry I'm late." She mumbles, staring at her plate.

"Quite alright, dear!" Effie chirps, "I know you must be busy with your Victor stuff."

This gets a small smile out of Undersee. "Yeah. Busy."

Haymitch dumps some food on her plate and she stares at it. "Eat." He grumbles and she shakes her head, yet again.

"I'm not hungry. I'm not, Haymitch. Can't you accept it?" She pushes herself out of her chair and snatches her bag before walking out of the room and a few seconds later, we hear the slam of a door.

"Well that's it?" I ask, throwing my hands up, "are you going to mentor me too, or am I going to have to go into this blind?"

"She's had a rough day, brainless. If you couldn't tell by the state of her." Naomi grouches, while sipping on some wine.

"I'm not stupid, I could tell that myself." I snap at her and she turns to me.

"Will you shut up? You think that you're some big guy, on top of the world, but you're not. You're just like me, and just like everyone else who's going to die in the damn Games. Now I don't know about you, but I would like to talk to my mentor about how to survive. I would recommend you do the same." That's the deepest thing I've ever heard her say and I'm still sitting in shock as she drags Haymitch by the ear and out of the room. He shoots me a glare before he gets out of sight.

"How the hell am I supposed to talk to my mentor when she's not even in the room, let alone around half the time?" I ask to no one in particular and it's Cinna who answers me.

"Just go talk to her. Knock on her door and tell her that she's supposed to help you." He shrugs and I stand finally, and slowly begin the trek to her room.

Once there, I rap on the door three times and I hear some shuffling around before the door opens.

"What?!" She asks irritably, and then sees it me. I take it she was expecting Haymitch. "Gale."

"Undersee."

"What do you want?" She mumbles swiftly, closing the door more so it's almost closed and it's the two of us in the hallway. She keeps her hands on the door handle, unless she needs a quick escape. Like I would hurt her; Haymitch would skin me, plus this girl's already been through hell and is still living in it, I don't want to make it worse for her.

"I want to know when you're going to start mentoring me, or if you're going to let me go into this blind, let me know now." I cross my arms over my chest and stare down at her. She's so short; she only comes up to my chin.

She thinks on that for a minute. "It's my first year as a mentor, give me a little time to get everything sorted."

"I will give you time, but when? When you're gone the entire day you can't really help me." Her eyes flash dangerously at me but then recovers, her eyes have a hint of the blue back in them. At first I think she's going to slap me, but she doesn't instead starts speaking again, her voice lowered. "We'll talk tomorrow, after training. Okay?"

"Fine. Will you be back by then or am I going to have to wait a couple of hours?" I know I'm pushing it, big time. This time, though, she does slap me. The slap echoes in the hallway and I stare down at her, amused.

"Don't ever say that again. You don't understand what it's like."

"Maybe I want to know what it's like."

"No, you don't. You'd ask Haymitch to mentor you in a heartbeat. You wouldn't want to speak to me."

"You're my mentor, and I don't exactly want to spend all of my time stuck around Naomi. So yeah, you're stuck with me."

She stares for a moment and then pushes some of her hair behind her ear and nods. She slowly starts to open her door behind her. "Go get some sleep. You need your energy.

Apparently, she does too if she's going where I think she's going tomorrow. It makes my jaw clench when I think about what those people do to her and she does nothing to stop it, but then again, sometimes you can't do anything to stop it.

As I get ready for bed, my thoughts drift to Undersee's Games. This year, it was a hilly grassland. In the Opening Bloodbath, fourteen people died. All and all, the Games lasted three days. But they were bloody. Really bloody.

The District 12 boy died in the opening bloodbath by asking if he could join the Careers, he was dead before they could even say no. Undersee teamed up with the District 8 twelve-year-old on the first day and then she was stupid and got herself stuck in quicksand. The twelve-year-old could barely get her out and then got herself incinerated minutes after by a fire bomb. Undersee had to watch the girl burn up. She hid in the back of the cornucopia for the next two days, surviving on roots that she found before.

It got down to the last five on the third day. There was a storm pouring on them and then randomly, it stopped and the fighting at the cornucopia continued. When Undersee finally got the courage to come out and fight, one was already dead, limbs completely detached from their body and thrown around it. Undersee had just jumped on the District 2 girl's back, trying to slash at her face when the ground rumbled and then the winds picked up. Undersee was the smartest and just ran. A tornado came and killed one of them, throwing them to the side of the cornucopia.

From the earthquake, mutts appeared, chasing down Undersee and the last two. The mutts were these wolf things, that could mimic screaming and one of them kept screaming the twelve-year olds scream. Undersee cracked and jumped at one of the last Careers and attempted to kill them, but before she could, the mutt reached the other one and the saw them being killed. She then climbed a hill, faster than the other one as the mutts came. The mutts bit into the guy's ankle and he attempted to pull Undersee down with him, but she kicked him in the nose and he fell, being eaten alive by a mutt.

And then she won. Undersee maybe killed one person in the Games. And then, Ceaser reminded her at the Replay thing that she could get any guy that she wanted since she won, because apparently, as she told us at the Interviews earlier in the Games, that there was one special guy she was waiting on. I can't help but wonder who that is.

* * *

_A/N: I changed the plot a bit, Madge won the 73rd Games and Gale and Naomi are in the 74th. Hope that clears up any confusion. Anyways, more on Madge's Games will come and the confrontation of the prostitution thing will come possibly in the next chapter. Three guesses who that special guy was, huh? Review and tell me your thoughts! c:_


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: LOL, watching Duck Dynasty and cracking up at anything. I have no life.**

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The next morning, I wake up groggy and tired. I can hardly keep my eyes open. I nearly fall asleep in the shower, and I trip on the way out the door. I nearly fall asleep at breakfast and don't even notice Effie snapping her fingers at me to wake me up. Then, Naomi splashes some water at me and I'm awake.

"What the hell was that for!?" I splutter and she shrugs. Haymitch smirks at me and Undersee smiles a little. I like her smile. Woah, where did that come from?

"Okay, listen, today you're going to training. Don't show your skills, learn something new. Stay together at all times." Naomi protests but Haymitch cuts her off. "Just do it. I'm the mentor here, remember?" I think he's actually sober. Wow.

"Fine Haymitch." She sighs, looking down at her plate while Effie screeches for us to get in the elevator or we're going to be late. I yawn as I stand up and I'm really wondering why I'm so tired. It's not like I'm doing anything very taxing.

As soon as we're in the training room, Naomi ditches me and goes to the guy from 2. I didn't exactly want to stay with her either, but it's what Haymitch said to do, and this guy has won this thing, so we should listen to him. I don't follow her though.

The women named Atala, starts talking about the many ways people could die and stuff and I find myself getting bored. The Careers and Naomi keep looking at me and the guy from 11. The guy from 11 raises his eyebrows at me and I shrug and cross my arms over my chest. I don't want an alliance. When that person dies, it will only hurt you more. Undersee learned that when the 12-year-old died.

I hadn't realized that Atala released us and I move a few seconds after everyone else. I examine the room. I don't even know where to start. There's bows, spears, survival stations, I don't even know. Haymitch said not to show our strengths, so honestly, I don't know what Naomi is going to do, but I know that I have to stay away from the bows.

So I go to the snares. The trainer is delighted when I show him some different snares or traps. I manage to hand a dummy upside down in a few seconds and he seems even more happy. The girl from nine is having quite a bit of trouble with even one knot snare so the trainer turns to her and leaves me be. I practice a few more snares and then leave, going to a different station.

I end up at the edible plant station and breeze through that station. A lot of the plants are familiar from gathering them for Mrs. Everdeen back home. The thought of home hits me with a pang. I wonder how people are at home. If they're going on with they're lives. I wonder how my family is doing. How they're holding up at home and if they're getting enough to eat. I wonder if Katniss is helping them. She better be. I know I'd do the same for her if our positions were switched.

I shake the thoughts of home away and continue on my way. I won't try the weapons until tomorrow or something. I need to focus on the survival stuff. I already have a chance with the bow when I show them in the private session. And if I show them that I can use it, then they'll most likely put on in the arena.

Most likely.

I move on to the fire-starting station and it actually takes me a little to manage it. I had started a few fires when we got stuck in the woods, but Katniss was always better at it. I try a few more times and then get it right eventually. We break for lunch. Naomi sits with the Careers and I notice she's practically on the guy's lap. I sit alone, close to the District 11 tributes. They talk in hushed voices. The girl looks like she's nine years old, though she must be twelve if she's here. The guy, however, is bigger than me and must be eighteen, possibly close to nineteen. Sucks being reaped now, in your last year. Thom swears he jinxed me being reaped.

Lunch dismisses and we go back into the training room for some exercise. We have to run on platforms and dodge the objects being thrown at us, while the Gamemakers watch. This'll go just great. As we go in order of district, I will go last, behind Naomi, who reluctantly slinks away from the guy from 2 and comes in front of me. She doesn't even acknowledge my existence.

Everyone goes first, and quite a few do poorly. The boy from 6 can't even climb onto the first mat; Naomi snorts in front of me and I can't help but glare at the back of her head. Like she could do any better than him.

But she does. She manages to get through it, dodging the objects and doing a lot better than I thought she would do. As soon as Naomi's off, she saunters over to the Careers again and they welcome her with open arms. They call my name and I climb onto the mat. I don't do half bad, I get hit a few times, but I brush it off and keep running. I get a pretty fast time, compared to other people and we're dismissed for the day. We have more training tomorrow, bright and early. All I would really like to do is collapse and sleep but I have to talk to Undersee so she can tell me what to do, because honestly, I don't know what to do.

Haymitch told us to stay together, so to be able to pretend that, I have to go up with Naomi. She tugs the guys head down and whispers something in his ear and he smirks and she slinks away from him again. As soon as we're in the elevator, she pins me against the wall and growls at me.

"We were together all day, got it?"

"Sure." I grumble and she releases her grip on me and walks away from me to the other side of the elevator as the door dings open. We walk out into the open and find everyone in the sitting room, including Undersee. She's passed out on the couch and Haymitch tells us to shut up quickly. He leads us to the dining room and sits us down before we dig into the food.

"How'd it go?" He says, after pushing his fork into the meat on his plate.

I shrug and Naomi launches into some made-up explanation about how she built a fire perfectly and everything, though, she basically stayed by the Careers all day, clinging to the guy from 1. I just agree with the story and agree with everything she says when Undersee comes in. She rubs the sleep out of her eyes and falls into the chair next to Haymitch.

"What time is it?" She groans, rubbing her eyes some more and scooping some rice onto her plate.

"About five." Haymitch tells her and she groans again, while quickly starting to eat. "Slow down will you?"

"I'm hungry." This is actually the first time I've seen her eat since we got here.

"And now you eat?" Haymitch groans, shoving her lightly and she glares at him before starting to eat again. Her hair is spilling out of the ponytail it was up in and her blue eyes actually look normal today. I guess she didn't have many appointments today.

Naomi babbles on and on about things that she supposedly learned and everyone just nods like we're agreeing with her. My thoughts stray to the upcoming arena. I wonder what it's going to be like. Above all, I'm praying that there is trees, of some sort. That's where I could win. Give me a bow, and I have it in the bag. I wonder if it's going to be like last year in some way. Last year was bad. I hope it's not that bloody. I don't even know if I'd be able to kill anyone. I know I will when the time comes, but Undersee didn't kill anyone and yet she got out. I doubt I could do that. I wonder if I'd be one of those who goes crazy and kills everyone. I'm not paying attention until I'm addressed directly. I jerk my head up and see everyone staring at me.

"What?" I ask stupidly and Naomi chortles into her drink.

"I asked what you did today." Undersee says, sipping her water.

"Learned." I grumble and she gives me that sarcastic look as Naomi stands and drags Haymitch out of the room to talk about God knows what. Undersee stands and beckons for me to follow and I do, my steps following hers as she goes through a door I noticed, but didn't think much of. Then there's some stairs and another door. We're on the roof now.

She sits on the ledge and I follow as she sighs.

"So?"

"You can start by calling me Madge, not Undersee." She forces out and I roll my eyes.

"Fine, _Madge_." It seems foreign in my mouth. "Now what?"

"How much did you hear?" Her voice is empty and she turns to me.

"What?"

"I'm not an idiot. I'm not blind either. So, how much did you hear on the train that night?"

My eyes widen and I try to pretend I didn't hear anything when her eyes narrow. "Some of it." I finally say and her eyes narrow more. "All of it."

She deflates, her head falling into her hands. "Forget you ever heard it."

I fall onto the ledge next to her and her eyes raise to mine. They're grey again. "Forget it? I can't. Not now. Not when I know that they _rape_ people for their enjoyment." I hiss out and her eyes widen and then narrow.

"Don't ever say that again. They do not rape us." She hisses out and I start to protest.

"Yes, they do! If they force you to have sex against your will then it is rape!" I cannot even believe that I am having this conversation with Madge Undersee, of all people. God, this is weird.

"It's not like we have a choice! This is what they do, Gale! They force you into stuff and if you don't do what they ask, then they do the most God awful things to you!" She chokes and her head falls back into her hands. It's about a minute later that I realize she's crying and she speaks again, her voice shaky. "You don't have a choice; once they decide your fate, you're stuck with it until you die."

"And your fate is.. this?" I ask

She nods and I exhale. "That sucks." She raises her eyes to meet mine quickly and then drops them.

"Yeah. It does. So my advice: don't come out of that arena."

"I have to."

"And why's that?" She demands at me, her head jerking back up and her eyes meeting mine. They're blue again. It looks better when they're blue. Where did that one come from? I shake it off and respond.

"My family. I told them I would win." Her face softens at the mention of family.

"Who'd you tell?" Her voice is softer now, not so demanding.

"My sister. And my brothers. I have to win."

"How old are they?"

"Posy's four. Rory's twelve, and Vick... He's ten." I don't know why I'm telling her this. It's not like it's going to help me get out of there, unless she can manage for that to help me in the long run. "You don't understand, I have to get back."

She's quiet for a moment. "That's your angle for the interview. Be determined to get home."

* * *

_A/N: Sorry if it's out of the sorts, losing inspiration. As you lovely readers can probably tell, Gale's starting to think some things about Madge so we'll see where that takes us. So, I'm going to start this thing that if you review, I'll give you sneak peek of the next chapter if you want one. Just make sure you tell me if you want to have one or not! Review!_


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I hope people are still reading!**

* * *

So, my interview angle is to be that person who wants to get home. I don't know how that will go. I'm not a big talker when it comes to audiences. The only people I really talk to is my family or Katniss, but none of them are here at the moment.

Undersee snaps her fingers under my nose and I jerk my head up to face her.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"What? Yeah, of course I am." I brush it off and she crosses her arms.

"Really? What did I just say?"

"Uh..."

"My point. You know, you are the one who wanted advice." She smirks and I frown. "Anyways, when that gong goes off, what were you planning to do?"

"I dunno, get something and then run off to somewhere I can handle."

"What if the arena is a desert?"

"It won't be. There was that one year where it was a desert and everyone died from dehydration. Not very interesting to the Capitol, I imagine."

She pauses before speaking. "That's what Haymitch told me last year. You're smart."

"And you find that a surprise?"

"Yeah, actually. You always seemed stupid to me."

I can't think of a good retort so I scowl at her and she smirks again. She looks at her watch and sighs. "I have to go. I won't be back until after you leave for training so don't bother asking where I am." I know where she's going. God, that sucks. It really does. "I would advise you to sleep. Stock up. Sleepless nights are coming."

I nod and she leaves quickly, scurrying down the stairs. I hear a door shut softly and then it's just the whistling of the wind, oh, and of course the Capitol audience down below me.

My thoughts stray against my will and I begin to think about what would happen to me if I won. I'll admit, I've been with plenty of girls and I have a bit of a reputation, plus, I've been told quite a few times that I'm good looking. Would that be enough to cause the same thing happen to me? I hope not. I don't want to have to sell myself to people I don't even know. I will refuse, if asked.

I push the thoughts out of my aching head and stumble down the stairs to my room. I jump in the shower quickly, get dressed, and then fall into bed.

* * *

NIghtmares plague my brain about what is to come later with the arena. I keep having that same reoccurring nightmare about it being something I'm not used to. Above all, I'm praying for woods of some sort. If it's not, I can adapt, but anything other than woods then I'm screwed to hell.

I wake up sweating and shaking. Quickly, I ignore the pounding on the door and throw some clothes on and splash my face with water.

"God, Effie! I'm coming!" I bellow out and the knocking ceases when I pull open the door. She huffs at me and I follow the click-clack of her heels down the hall. How she manages to walk in them full-time, I do not know.

Once at the table, I see that Madge, God it sounds weird, is absent, Haymitch is intoxicated again, and Naomi is literally asleep on her plate. I can't help but snort as Effie wakes her up by snapping her little fan thing on the table. Naomi's head whips up from the table and I'm pleased to see that she has butter all over her face. Haymitch starts to laugh heartily at her and I join in, with her glaring daggers at the both of us.

We quickly eat and Effie shoves us into the elevator. We go down in silence. Today, I decide, I'm going to work with the weapons and not care if the Careers are watching. I'll decline their request to join, if asked. I don't want an alliance. But, it would give me an easy ride through. I'll have to think about it.

Naomi runs off to the guy from 1 who embraces her tightly, as if he missed her. I nearly gag on my spit as I walk to the spears. I'm fairly good with spears, better with the bow, though. The first time I throw it, it hits the stomach of the figure and the instructor shows me how to hit the heart. Next time, I do. I hit it over and over again, only taking a break when the instructor gives me a heavier spear to throw.

After about an hour at the spear station, I can sense eyes on me. I turn to find the Careers looking at me. The idiot from two starts to walk over to me.

"Hey, man." He says, shaking my hand tightly.

"Name's Gale."

"Cato. We've been watching you for a while, and we want you in our alliance. Be a great addition."

"Don't you already have another addition?"

"Yeah, but my man Marvel over there only wants her around in case he gets lonely, if you know what I mean." He smirks, nudging me with his elbow as Naomi fawns over the guy named Marvel. God, she makes me sick. I force a laugh and a smile.

"So what do you say?" Cato presses on, trying to make me join, In truth, I don't know.

"I dunno, man. I'll talk to my mentor about it." Cato frowns momentarily, but then that fake smile is that.

"That's fine. Who is your mentor? The drunk?"

"No. Madge Undersee."

Cato's lets out a low whistle and then he speaks, in a low voice, "I'd love to get into that. Am I right, or am I right?" Now, as much as this shouldn't bother me, it freaking does. So much more than it should.

I force a laugh and Cato brings me over to the other Careers. I meet Marvel (the one from 1 that Naomi is hanging on too), Glimmer (also from 10, and then Clove, Cato's district partner and of course Naomi. Her eyes latch onto mine and she glares. I guess I'm stealing her spotlight. Oh well. She could use some character building.

I don't get to acquainted with the Careers, as I still don't know if I'll be allying with them. Ditzy Glimmer keeps bugging me and she will not go away. Damn, she won't go away! For the rest of the day, including lunch, I stay with them, learning their weaknesses and just examining them. I learn that Marvel favors his right leg with a spear. Cato uses his right arm. Clove uses her left arm for knife throwing. I do not want to get in front of that knife. I'd be dead. Glimmer... I don't even know where to start.

She obviously has not trained in one of those fancy training centers, as she cannot use the weapons. I don't know why they keep her around. Naomi won't do anything, beside hang onto the guy from 1. I guess she's waiting to show her skills when the Gamemakers have their private session with her?

The Careers make snide comments about every other tribute in these Games and about how they can't wait to kill them all. I'm distracted. The comment Cato said about Undersee keeps floating back into my mind. She's already living in hell, why make it worse for her? I mean, it's pretty bad now, as she's the newest Victor. I'd had my suspicions about what was going on with her, but it wasn't that. God, it wasn't that. And the mere thought about anyone else messing with her... it just doesn't sit well with me. I don't know why.

Before I know it, it's time to leave. Cato tells me to sleep on it and I nod. Naomi talks to Marvel for a while and I literally have to drag her away from him and into the elevator. Damn, she's getting on my nerves. I think Haymitch can sense my annoyance when I walk in because he takes Naomi to talk. So that means I either have to find Undersee or I'm stuck with Effie for a while. I'd take Undersee any day.

I find her passed out on the couch again, hair askew everywhere. She's curled up under some fleece blanket. I smile a bit at her, because she needs the sleep. I decide not to bother her yet, at least. I would like to do well tomorrow with the Private Session. The thought pangs me. That means I have less days than I thought before possible death.

I shake my head slightly as I start to walk away. I'm just leaving the room when I hear a whimper. I turn on my heel and walk back into the room, where Undersee is now thrashing around, tears streaming down her face. I kinda just stare at her because I have no idea what to do. My feet can't seem to move as I watch her cry out.

My feet work before my brain does, and before I'm actually processing anything, I'm moving back to the couch, and shaking her awake. Her eyes fly open and she sits up frantically, her head whacking into mine. I rub my forehead as her tear-filled eyes race around the room and she lets out a sob and throws herself into my arms.

I just sit there for a moment before awkwardly patting her on the back and she pulls away, wiping her eyes and burying her face in a pillow.

"Sorry.." A muffled voice comes from the pillow.

"Would it help to talk about it?" I offer weakly and she sits up, her eyes bluer from the tears.

She shakes her head, though slowly. "I don't want to plaque you with the nightmares." She lets out shakily and rubs her eyes again, turning away from me and facing the television screen.

"Maybe it will help."

"You sound like you want to have the nightmares, Gale." She hits me with the pillow, stained with her tears, softly and I grin. She pauses. "It was about Wren." Oh. _Oh_. Wren was the twelve-year-old girl in her Games.

"Sorry." I don't really know what to say to her. I wasn't there, I don't know what it felt like. I soon will though. And that's what hurts. A lot. That I'll know the pain of twenty-three other people being dead if I want to get home. That's why I can't get attached. Because if I get attached, it'll be harder to say good-bye in the end.

* * *

_A/N: So some affection from Gale huh? c: Anyway, this will probably be the last time I update until after Thanksgiving break because I'm going out of the country to the Caribbean. Woot woot! But I'm not allowed to bring my phone or computer, so don't expect an update. I will be writing the next chapter the entire time I'm gone, so expect a quick update later! _

_I hope people are still reading and I hope there aren't to many errors!_


	6. Chapter 6

I can't get her out of my head. I just can't. I've tried, trust me, I've tried. She just won't go away. I can't get the way she looks when she cries out of my head, I can't get her eyes out of my head, and I really can't get the way that she molds perfectly in my grasp out of my head.

Even in the morning of the last day of training she's still there. I keep missing the target with the spear. Cato comes over.

"What is with you today, man? Yesterday you were shredding those things."

"Distracted." I grunt and chuck another spear at the dummy. This time it actually hits, thank God. Cato whistles as the spear goes through the dummy's neck.

"Good shot." He growls and I get the sense he's annoyed with me. I really should be focusing on the upcoming private session later this afternoon, but I can't. Too distracted with Undersee. Why she's even stuck in my head, I really don't know. Naomi doesn't even freaking notice me today, she's becoming more and more clingy to Marvel and it's disgusting me.

Even while we're eating lunch waiting for our names to be called she's in my head. The Careers all go, giving everyone a smirk and a smile before entering. I'm going second to last, Naomi last. When it gets to me, I slowly stand and walk to the door. The first thing I notice is that the Gamemakers are drunk. Extremely drunk.

I groan inwardly and walk to the bow. The minute I pick it up I realize that something is wrong. The bow string is tighter than mine at home. It feels foreign. It takes me a minute to get used to it. I close my eyes. I'm not in the Training Center anymore. I'm in my woods. Hunting down dinner. Katniss is with me, annoying me. I mentally tell her to shut up.

The rabbit's in front of me. Slowly, I noch the arrow and pull back the string. And release. The arrow pierces the dummy in the chest. Arrow after Arrow I send into the dummies, thinking only one thing: I have to feed my family. I have to protect them. I have too.

I move to the spears and send them all over the room, destroying the dummies. Snares next. My hands ache from tying the knots quickly, but I know that I have to go fast because my session will be over soon.

The Gamemakers aren't even paying attention to the roast pig that just landed on their table. They're watching me, Just as I finish my snare, I'm released.

"You may go, Mr. Hawthorne." Seneca Crane says, releasing me. I think I did a pretty good job.

* * *

I take a long shower and avoid anything that has to do with Undersee. I have to much on my mind, I don't need her in there too, though she's been in there all damn day.

When I come out, Naomi still isn't up. What is she doing down there? It's not like she actually trained. She just stood there, literally. I sit down in the sitting room as Naomi comes up. She's all sweaty and her cheeks are pink. She sits down in one of the chairs and Haymitch, who is intoxicated, raises his eyebrow and she giggles. I groan as Effie starts babbling and Cinna and Portia talk in hushed whispers to each other on the other side of the room.

Ceaser Flickerman comes on and starts with a joke that no one gets. Haymitch laughs, probably because he's drunk. The Careers fare pretty well, scoring from the eight to ten range. The lowest is an eight. Undersee comes in about halfway through and quietly sits down in the only available seat: the one next to me. Typical. I swear Portia and Cinna planned this because they keep looking at me.

Undersee and I avoid each others eyes. Though, I can't help but watch her out of the corner of my eye. God, she looks worse than yesterday. Hair's a mess, eyes clouded, everything.

I hadn't realized I had zoned out and I look up when they say my name. A picture of me frowning comes up and Ceaser announces that I have earned an eleven. Cheers erupt in the room and Effie goes to get drinks as Naomi's score comes up. She's earned a nine. How, I don't know. She smiles sweetly as Haymitch claps me on the back and Undersee gives me a small smile, which I take to say 'we'll talk later'. I can take that.

We go to eat and Haymitch drills us on what we did in there.

"Mostly the bow, stuff like that." I grunt out and he turns to Naomi.

"And you?"

She giggles again before speaking. "Well, you know, my talents." She picks up her corn on the cob and sticks the end of it in her mouth. I nearly choke on my drink and Portia whacks me on the back twice as I realize what exactly Naomi did in her session.

"And how did you manage this?" Undersee squeaks; she also suffered choking.

"I just called for an assistant and.." She says softly, tracing circles in the tablecloth. Undersee pushes herself from the table and storms away. Naomi giggles again and I'm annoyed. So that's how she got her high score? Really? Could you stoop any lower than that? I want to follow Undersee because I know where she's going and why she's upset.

Dinner goes by painfully slow after that. When it's finally over, I bolt from the table and to the roof where I know she is. I don't know where Naomi goes, and frankly I don't care at the moment. What is with me lately?

She is on the roof, sitting up against the ledge, flipping a coin. I don't know why. "What're you doing?" I ask and she jumps, dropping the coin.

"Just trying to decide something."

"What?"

"It's not important." She snaps and I raise my hands in surrender. She keeps staring that coin in her hand, which is heads up.

"What'd you think of Naomi?"

Undersee laughs that stupid hallow laugh that I don't like at all. "She's a bitch. If she survies that arena, she'll be the one Victor who will like being a prostitute. Wasn't she pregnant a few years back?"

"Yeah. Baby was Cray's." Undersee looks like she's going to gag.

"That's just horrible. I hope people realize that basically anyone who wins this Game will be stuck in it also."

"What?" I start, turning to her. She realizes what she just said and her eyes widen.

"I said nothing." She attemps to start and tries to walk away but I grab her wrist quickly and pull her back.

"What did you say?"

She sighs, realizing she can't win this. "I said that really anyone who wins this year could be forced into the prostitution." The thought sinks in.

"Like hell that will happen. Whoever wins can refuse right?"

"They can, if they're really young, but if you're fifteen or up, you're screwed." That's right. She was fifteen when she won the Games. I'm eighteen so that means that if I win.. Ah, shit.

"So that means..."

"Yeah. You'd be stuck with it." I roll my eyes and lean up against the ledge.

"God, this sucks. This really does." I speak and she sighs.

"Wait till you get to the arena, it'll be so much worse. You don't really know what to do in there. Every move you make is either life or death and one mistake can lead to someone else's death, or yours." I know she's thinking about her arena. She did nearly die a few dozen times, and killed maybe one person.

"Is it really that horrible?"

"Yeah. And people wonder why Haymitch drinks or why I scrub myself raw in the shower to get the blood to go away that's not even there."

"You scrub yourself raw? When the blood isn't even there?"

She nods slowly, as if deciding whether to tell me or not. "Yeah. After the arena, I thought the blood was all still there. I came out covered in blood, so that's why I think it's still there. Plus, after all those people touching me and abusing me it helps." My jaw clenches when she says the last sentence.

"How does that help?" I force out and she fiddles with her fingers.

"It.. helps me feel cleaner but I still feel dirty. My dad won't even talk to me anymore because he thinks I enjoy it. I'm used to it, though. I have to make it looks like I'm happy or people die." Her voice is bitter and I can't help but wonder what goes on at her house when she's with her dad. What kind of father is this? He's the Mayor for God's sake!

"They kill people?"

"Yeah." Her voice drops. "Snow will make an excuse to kill someone and then will. He's been doing it for years. Victor's have no choice but to just go with it and act like they're happy. Even when they're not." She sounds really bitter right now.

"Are you happy?" I already know the answer.

She snorts. "No. I'd rather be dead, actually. No victors are ever happy, besides those few who actaully get married and have kids."

We sit in some silence before she speaks. "For the arena, ally with the Careers. Haymitch told me that you were with the Careers for most of the week. Just stay with them and break off near the end. I'm sure you can make it to the end. Just remember what I told you about what happens to Victors." Then she's gone.

It takes me a while to understand what she's saying. When you win the Games, you don't actually win. It's just the beginning of your trial.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry if this chapter is a bit horrible. Not my best work, I'll admit. I told y'all that Naomi was going to be an interesting character. Just wait, it gets better. So, what do y'all think about her being stuck in his head all day, eh? Thoughts? Concerns?_


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Lacking inspiration... Again.**

* * *

Undersee's words keep coming back to me about what happens to Victor's after they win. I'm disgusted. I really wonder how those Victor's feel about it. And if you don't go with his rules, people die. Yeah, that's something you really want to hear after you survive the Hunger Games.

Currently, I'm with Effie as she teaches me how to smile and whatever else she thinks is important. She says that to be polite can help you in life and blah, blah, blah. I really don't care about the interview as much as I probably should, I just want to go home to my family. The only way I can get home is if I go through the interview.

"Gale!" Effie snaps and I unglaze my eyes.

"Yeah?"

"Are you even listening?"

"Yes." I say defiantly, and she frowns, her green wig toppling to the side slightly.

"What did I just say?" She grins when I don't answer. "Got you." Sometimes I swear Effie is a mind-reader. "Now, Gale, if you want to impress the Capitol audience, though, you already impressed them, you have to do good in your interview."

"Yeah, yeah, okay."

"Sometimes I swear you're worse than Naomi." Now that's an insult. She smirks. "Pay attention." She snaps her fan on the table in front of me and proceeds to tell me about smiling and how it's much better than the scowl I usually have on my face.

By lunch, I'm done with her. Naomi looks happily installed in a chair and I'm disgusted again. God, she's horrible. Haymitch is drinking some alchohal and Undersee is actually here for once. There's more of a sparkle in her eyes instead of the dull blue that has been present for days. She sips on her coffee and nods her head toward me. I repeat the gesture.

Haymitch looks thoroughly annoyed and I'm sure Effie does too. "Okay, so after lunch, Naomi you're going to go with Effie," Naomi groans and rolls her eyes, "and Gale will go with Madge. Remember the interviews are tonight, so, make this count." He slurs out, and I'm surprised he can form a full sentence.

I find myself staring at Undersee more and more. I stare at her eyes and her hair. I stare too much. Portia coughs and I divert my eyes down to my plate. What the hell is going on with me?

Lunch ends, and Effie stands, waiting for Naomi to finish. Naomi literally eats as slow as humanely possible to escape Effie. Haymitch catches on.

"For God's sake, girl! Go!" She groans and trudges down the hallway. When she's gone, Haymitch stands and wobbles on his feet before speaking, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the bar."

Undersee rolls her eyes as he hobbles away. She doesn't say anything, just walks to the roof where we normally talk. I follow slowly, trying to prevent tomorrow morning from coming.

"C'mon, hurry up." She calls down the roof stairs and I sigh before moving faster. Once upstairs, she sits on the ledge and I follow.

"So do you remember your angle?"

"Something about family, I think." I rack my brain trying to remember what she told me a few days ago.

"You think or you know?"

"I know."

"Good," She proceeds to ask me fake interview questions that I try to answer. I try to answer them the best I can, but I'm not good at speaking. Finally, she gives up and chews her lip. "I guess that's the best that's gonna do. Just improvise if they ask something you don't know how to answer."

There's a pause in the conversation for a moment. "So you want me to stay with the Careers most of the time?"

"Yeah. It should help you stay alive."

"What do you think the arena will be like?"

"Who knows. Could be anything, really."

"Oh." Another pause. Portia comes up and has to take me to get ready. My prep team fawns over me again, but luckily I don't have to get the full body wax because that happened a few days ago. Elowen keeps trying to scrub my body more before Portia tells them that it's enough. Thank God for Portia.

"So are you ready?"

"For the interview? I guess, I mean I don't like talking."

"Pretend you're talking to someone back home, your mom, brother, whatever. I've heard it helps." I nod and she helps me into a suit. There are little flame accents on the edges of the pant legs and the arm legs. Portia fixes my hair again and then dabs some sort of thing on my face before she deems me fit to go on stage.

Once downstairs, I find I'm one of the first to arrive. Cato and Marvel are down here, along with some others. I tell Cato that I'll join their alliance and he gives me a slap on the back for getting an eleven. Though, he has that blood-thirst in his eyes.

Naomi comes up behind me and latches onto Marvel. God I'm gonna puke. Cato rolls his eyes at first, but then does a double take at Naomi when he sees what she's wearing. It's the shortest freaking thing I've ever seen. Plus, it barely covers anything. Marvel's eyes are popping out of his head as he stares at her. She doesn't know what the hell she's getting herself into.

By now, we're all supposed to be in our seats, so I travel backwards, with Naomi behind me. I'll be going last. I don't want to sit through eleven other interviews when I really don't know what I'm going to do. I know Undersee said to talk about my family, but I don't want to bring more attention to them. More attention then there already is.

I don't pay much attention to the other interviews, instead wonder what my family is doing. I bet they're watching this now. I wonder what they think of the other tributes. Currently, it's on the girl from five, the one with red hair. She kinda looks like a fox. She's sneaky, or I'm guessing.

I wonder what Katniss thinks about all of this. Frankly, I haven't thought much about Katniss in the past few days. I've been too worried about the Games and then I can't get Undersee out of my head, either. Why she's still up there, I really don't know.

I shake my head to clear my thoughts when Naomi is up there. The way she's sitting makes her dress look even shorter, and even Ceaser is uncomfortable. All the males in the audience are staring at her, eyes wide with everything she says. She's playing up the audience, already has the guys in the palm of her hand.

Naomi comes off of the stage, bright red and beaming, then my name is called. Slowly, I walk to the stage, with the crowd cheering. When I get on stage, I try to force a smile, but it probably looks like a grimace. Ceaser shakes my hand and beams at me.

"So, Gale, you are taking us by storm!"

"Am I? I didn't notice." I force out and the audience laughs a bit.

"You did manage to set us aflame, literally, in the Opening Ceremonies, and then fed the flame with your training score! If you don't mind me asking, how did you get that score?"

I struggle to think of the words. I can't exactly say what happened in there.

"I don't think I can, Caesar."

Ceaser gives a fake huff of annoyance but then bounces back immediately. "Anyways, Gale, a nice young lad like you must have someone waiting at home for you to come back, am I right or am I right?"

My thoughts jump to Katniss and my family. I know that if I mentioned Katniss she'd probably slap me if I came home for throwing her in the spotlight. "Besides my family, then no." Lie. Or, I don't know really.

His face falls before lighting up again. "Are you sure?

"I'm pretty sure," I laugh and the audience laughs with me, though I don't know why they're laughing. Ceaser starts speaking again.

"Then tell me about your family."

Oh, God, no thanks. I know I prepared for this, but no. I don't want too. I pause before finally saying something. "Well, there's not much to say. They're my family, and I have to get home to them. I promised I would." A couple of women pass out on the ground at my confession of my family.

"Then, I guess you must." The buzzer goes off and he stands, shaking my hand, "Gale Hawthorne, District 12!" The audience cheers again and I let out a breath. I'm done. One step closer to home.

Back off stage after the closing, Effie attacks me, saying I did wonderful and what not. Portia's next, telling me I looked great and sounded great. Haymitch isn't drunk, for once and talks to me.

"You may have a chance coming out of this yet."

"He had a chance before that interview, Haymitch." Undersee swats at him and rolls her eyes.

"You did good." She says to me, tipping her head up. I slowly repeat the gesture, but I'm occupied with staring at her as she talks to Cinna. She's in some sort of gown, and it looks absolutely beautiful on her. It's a light purple color that looks really good on her skin tone. Portia comes up next to me before snapping her fingers in front of my face, and then winking at me when I find it hard to extract my gaze from Undersee.

"Come on, you guys need your sleep. Games are tomorrow." That bad feeling in the pit of my stomach comes back. No, nope. Don't want to go in. I'd rather not.

I follow Haymitch and the rest of our crew up in the elevator and the entire time, I'm dreading tomorrow. Naomi looks surprisingly calm, for having to fight tomorrow. Meanwhile, Effie is fretting about us missing our hovercrafts tomorrow and frankly, I could care less. All I'm thinking about is getting out of that arena. I'm praying that the arena is forest. I can survive in forest. But, the Capitol usually doesn't do a forest as the arena. God, this sucks.

* * *

Later, after saying good-byes to people, and a very teary good-bye from Effie, I'm pacing around my room. I've tried drinking water, eating something, showering, but I can't seem to sit still. Nothing is calming me at all._ Nothing_. I run my hands through my hair and listen to the cheering of the crowds outside my window. It's sick how they like this! Kids are dying because of it.. I end up smashing my water-glass and I need to get out of here.

I pull on a shirt and climb to the roof, where the fresh air hits me. It isn't enough to calm me. I slide down the ledge, until I'm resting up against it, rubbing my eyes. I wonder what Rory's doing. I bet he's still up. Vick and Posy are probably asleep. My mom's probably up with Rory. I don't even know what Katniss is thinking. Or what anyone is thinking for that matter.

A few minutes later, I hear the door open. "I figured you'd be up here." Undersee. She's here. I glance up and she's leaning against the door frame, staring at me. "This is where I came the night before, too." She crosses and leans over the edge. God, she looks like an angel right now. She has on some white pajama set or something.

"Were you scared?" I ask and she lets out a laugh. It's not the hallow one.

"Scared? I was terrified out of my skin. Ended up trying to jump off the roof to prevent it."

I don't even try to stifle the laugh. "You tried jumping?" I stand up and reach out. I'm surprised when I'm shocked back slightly. "And obviously it didn't work."

"Of course it didn't. I'm still here." She snorts.

"Didn't you get fried? Trying to jump, I mean?"

"No, I didn't. I was a bit out of it for a little after it. Nearly fell off my plate in the countdown." Yeah, she did look a little frazzled.

"You did look a little stupid." I nudge her arm and she glares. What am I doing? I'm going into the Games tomorrow, possibly to die, and here I am flirting with Madge Undersee. Wow. I'm starting to wonder who that guy was, the one Ceaser said she could end up with. I wonder if because she was so popular in the Capitol they got rid of him so she could do the Capitol's bidding. I really don't know.

It takes me a minute to realize that she's talking to me. "You should get some sleep. Games start tomorrow. You don't want to be falling asleep on the first night." I nod slowly, and begin to walk away, but my mouth betrays me.

"Undersee?"

She turns, eyebrow raised. "Yeah?"

"Who was he? The guy from your interview, I mean."

She pauses and turns back around, facing the street. "Isn't it obvious?"

"No?"

She speaks slowly, unable to decide whether to tell me or not. She doesn't turn around to face me. I guess she decides to hell with it and says it. "Gale, it's you."

And once again, I'm floored.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry this took a while, I promise next chapter will be up quickly as the Games start! I'm doing something different for theses Games, so just be ready! Thoughts?_


	8. Chapter 8

"_What_?" I force out and she sighs.

"Thought it was pretty obvious." She says, still staring at the streets. "Thought I made it obvious enough. Either that or you're an idiot." She mumbles the last part and I rub my eyes. She has to be kidding. There's no way.

"But why me?" I bark and she shrugs.

"I don't know. I really don't know." She says, dropping her face into her hands. "If you want to yell at me or something then feel free. Guess I deserve it, telling this to you the night before the Games.

Nope, not saying anything else. I can't take it, I have to get out of here. I rush back downstairs and into my room. I don't even try to sleep. She has to be lying. I've been horrible to her! There's no way! There just can't be a way that she likes _me_. I start pacing across the room. Hell, I hate her. She decides to pull this on me now? Of all times, now? I don't even know if she's lying or not!

She sounded pretty sincerce though, says the voice in my head. What if she is serious? I could possibly be dead in a matter of days, and she's telling me that now? I guess that's why she told me. Because I could die pretty soon. God, I hate girls.

Hell, I don't know what to think! Madge Undersee, freaking Madge Undersee was talking about me in her interview! There's something seriously wrong about this. I don't even know what to think. I really have no clue what she was thinking. Was she drunk? Who in their right mind would tell someone something like that the day before they go into the Games? It's suicide for the person going in!

I don't even get sleep. Portia comes to get me at four in the morning. I'm still awake, trying to figure out why the hell Undersee told me that.

"Rough night?" Portia asks quietly and I nod.

"You can't even imagine." I mutter and she sighs. I hear movement in the room across from me and know that Naomi is being awakened too. Portia leads me out before Naomi comes out. Guess we can't see each other before the Games. There's a silent apartment. I want to find Undersee and ask her why but I know that she won't have to be up for a while, unless she's not even here at the moment.

I find myself beginning to freak out as the tracker is inserted in my arm. That way, they can find me anywhere, at any time. Wouldn't want to lose me. We ride forever, at least four hours. Where the hell is this arena? Middle of nowhere? Seems like it.

Quickly, I begin to start shaking. I can't show how scared I am. Portia tries to get me to sleep, eat, anything, but I can't. I'm too distracted. With the Games. With Undersee. With everything.

My thoughts stray back to my family. I wonder how they're holding up. If they think I'm going to die today, or tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. God, I hope they don't think so. I'm going to get back to them, I'll do anything too. I bet Katniss is in the woods. Nothing extraordinary hits me when I think of Katniss. I guess she's a sister, now. I love her, I do. But not like that.

The windows black out soon after. Thirty minutes pass.

Finally, the hovercraft pulls to a stop. Portia helps me stand and leads me to where I'll be deposited into the catacombs of the arena. Once underground, we're brought to a room where I will prepare for the Games. I step into the shower and try to block out everything. I have to get out of the arena. I have too, no questions asked. My family. My heart aches a little when I realize I may never see them again, if I die today. The thought doesn't help.

Once out, Portia helps me into clothes. Black shirt. Brown cargo pants. Some boots.

"Good for running." She notes, moving onto the thin jacket I'll be going in with. And when I say thin, I mean thin. As soon as I'm dressed, I fall onto the couch and drop my head into my hands.

"Gale?" Portia asks gently, setting a hand on my shoulder. "Do you want to talk?"

"Nothing to talk about." I grunt and she sits down.

"Talk about why you're getting home."

Family. I have too, I even told them I would come home. I have too.

"It's okay to be scared. Cinna said that last year, Madge was shaking so much she couldn't stand." I give her a look. Of course, she had to bring her up now. I swear Portia knows something I don't.

"Did you really have to bring her up?" I grumble and go to pace.

"Well I was just making conversation." She mutters, before standing and coming to me. "You will do fine. Clear your head of everything, your family, home, everything. You can make it out. I know you can." Portia is the one thing I'll miss if I die. She's been nice, helped me even. I won't really miss my prep team. Especially not Elowen.

Probably the food, too.

I nod and pleasant female voice comes on the loud speaker.

"One minute to launch." I swallow and Portia gives me a quick hug.

"Remember, Gale, clear your head. You can do this." I nod again and start to walk to the tube that could bring me to my doom. Once in the tube, it closes around me. God, I'm scared. Hell, I am terrified. I can't let it show. When it starts to move, I turn so I'm facing Portia.

She gives me a small smile and I swallow thickly. The tube keeps moving upward, until it goes dark for several seconds and the only thing I can hear is my own breathing. Then, I'm blinded by bright, harsh sunlight.

* * *

"Ladies and gentlemen, let the 74th Annual Hunger Games begin!"

The minute I see the arena, I know I'm in trouble. No trees, no forest, no water for even that matter. Desert. Sand dune over sand dune over sand dune. Though, about two-hundred meters from the cornucopia, there's a rectangular building, with a few windows here and there. Train tracks. There are train tracks running all through this place.

My eyes are searching around, trying to find a bow. There's only one. Wait, two. There's only weapons. My eyes narrow as I realize this. How the hell do they expect us to survive without water? It won't be a very good . I'm next to the small girl from 11 and the fox from 5. They both look terrified. The thought brings my brain back to Undersee. No. Stop. You have to survive. Don't think about her.

Cato catches my gaze and tips his head towards the building. I think I get what he means. Either we're going to stay there, or hunt down the people who go there. The second option makes me a little sick to my stomach. Animals I can handle. People, I really don't know. Not yet at least.

The countdown is getting closer and closer to zero. My brain is going nuts, trying to figure out what I'm going to do. I can't run away; the Careers will hunt me down. I don't want to run into the Cornucopia, that means possible death. Basically, any move I make, I could die.

There are ten seconds left, and I don't know what I'm going to do. I guess my only option is to fight, like a Career would. I barely have time to place my feet before the gong rings out and chaos happens. It takes me a second to realize what I'm going to have to do before I'm running to the Cornucopia, with the other Careers in front of me. Damn, they're fast.

I charge into the Cornucopia quickly, throwing the quiver over my shoulder and grabbing the bow. Glimmer gets the other one. I don't mind; I've gotten a bow, I'm good. She starts shooting very poorly and I'm grimacing just watching it. Cato and Marvel are already slashing at tributes and one jumps on my back, trying to slice my eye out. I jab my elbow backwards and the person's grip slacks before they fall with a knife in their back. Clove.

The poor kid's still alive, struggling. It's a pity kill, but I kill him. And I don't like it, much. I shake it off. I can't think about it, keep going. Stay alive. Have to stay alive.

Pretty quickly, the remaining tributes scurry off and Clove counts up the kills.

"Four. Only four tributes." I guess that's why the Bloodbath ended so quickly. I stay out of Cato's rage as he goes around kicking the dead tributes. God, will it kill you to show some respect? I mean, I know they're dead, but they have families at home. The thought of having to see a body of someone you knew come home dead... It doesn't sit well in my stomach.

As Glimmer attempts to calm Cato down, the rest of us go through what supplies there are. Only weapons, really. Several knives, some swords and spears, a couple bows, even some poison blow guns. It's a little odd, that there's no supplies. There's no way twenty more people are going to be able to survive in the middle of the desert with no shelter or water, for that matter. If it keeps going like this, we'll all be dead soon. Maybe I'll have an advantage, you know, from years of surviving with little.

Finally, Cato comes back, his fit of rage forgotten. "Okay, I say, we head to that building over there and look around, y'know? Idiot tributes could have run off there, thinking we wouldn't find them."

"Yeah, right." Marvel smirks and Naomi giggles. God, I'm going to hurl.

"Get a room, already." Cato grumbles, whacking Marvel with the point of his sword.

"Maybe we will," Naomi shouts out, before planting her lips firmly on Marvel's.

"God, I'm going to hurl." Glimmer says and their kiss gets deeper and deeper.

"Can they just go away?" I voice and Cato chuckles.

"I wish. Maybe if we leave them here they'll stop." I force a laugh as they pull away. Naomi is obviously going for the sex angle. I mean, they way the men's eyes bugged out of their heads at her interview, or even the opening ceremonies, I could tell. Hell, I'm sure my eyes were bugging out of my head. That surely wasn't Undersee's angle and she still ended up.. No. Stop thinking about her.

Finally, they surface and we begin the long trek to the building where hopefully supplies will be waiting.

* * *

_A/N: So there we go. Desert. Train tracks, it should be interesting. I'm kinda taking some of the arena theme from a movie, well two different movies, but still. What do you think? Up to par? I like it, so that's what counts to me. _


	9. Chapter 9

Cato starts arguing about who's going to stay behind and watch the rest of the weapons. Finally, he and Clove agree that Naomi and Glimmer are the weakest links. I guess they've put themselves as the leaders. Not that I mind, I plan to fade into the shadows once the Games narrow down in tributes. They decided that Marvel and Naomi should never been alone together and I seconded that vote mentally. No, I don't want to see them playing tonsil hockey in the middle of the desert. Not good for keeping food and water down. Though we have no food and water.

Finally, we start to hike towards the building. The hot sun stares down on us and I can already tell I'm going to get sunburned just by standing here. I'm already sweating and I swear we just started walking. I'm not the only one already feeling slick with sweat, both Cato and Marvel are sweating, so is Clove. At this rate, we're going to all be dehydrated by the end of tomorrow.

Once outside of the building, I find it's not small at all. Quite large, probably filled with an abundance of hiding places. Maybe supplies. Yeah, maybe. Hopefully. We spread out and search for the door. I find it first.

"Hey, guys! Found it!" I call and they all come rushing over and then barge in the door. As much as I'm hoping it will have water in it, that's not the first thing I see. Instead, the first thing I see is a giant pit. Cato reaches out to grab Clove's shirt collar as she continues to run. I stare down it, trying to see the bottom.

"How far down do you think it is?"

"Dunno." I respond before picking up a rock and chucking it down. "Maybe fifteen, twenty feet?"

"Good trap." Marvel points out and my minds whirling. Yeah, once the tribute falls down, they can't get out, therefore each resorting to dying a slow death is dehydration or heat exhaustion, or suicide. It pangs me to realize I just thought that.

We skirt around the edges, only to find that it takes up most of the first floor. We find stairs and climb them quickly, to find another floor, but this time, it has machines on it.

"Search between them." Cato orders and Marvel and Clove scurry off and go to hunt down tributes. I move a bit slower, searching in between them, not really paying attention, until I catch a glimpse of two, big brown eyes looking at me. It's the small girl from 11. I'm not killing a twelve-year-old. I've decided that much right now. I can't kill someone that young. A cannon booms as we're staring each other down.

"Who do you think it was?" Clove calls from the other side of the room.

"There's twenty of us left, could be anyone." Marvel calls back and he addresses me. "Hey, 12, find anyone in your section?"

I divert my eyes from the girl, moving on. "No. Didn't find anyone. We should check back tomorrow at the same time to see if anyone has come, or fallen into the pit downstairs."

"I like the way you think, 12." He says, nodding his head slightly. I really don't want to come back, I'm just trying to get the message to the girl to get out of here. Hell, she needs to get out of here as soon as we leave. I know she probably thought of it as shelter, and a place to hide, but she should be smart enough to realize that the Careers would go here immediately, to hunt down tributes. Then again, she's only twelve. Probably not very street smart. Reminds me of Rory.

The thought of Rory almost makes me laugh because Rory would definitely do the same thing that girl did and hide in the building.

I hadn't realized that the rest of the group has started walking out of the building, so I hurry to follow, as they start running towards some random dune. They're shouting and screaming about something, and I think it's nothing until I see the blood squirt out of the kids stomach. Boy from 4. Six down. Eighteen of us left. Seventeen until I get home.

* * *

They put me and Cato on guard duty for the first shift. Next shift is Clove and Naomi, and then Glimmer and Marvel. Though, Naomi and Marvel suck on each other's faces for a moment before Clove gets ready to chuck a knife at them and they stop.

"God, I'm gonna be sick." Cato mutters as he digs his sword into the sand.

"You and me both." I reply. While Cato and I watch the surroundings area around the cornucopia, though I doubt someone will attack us, it starts to chill and I think all of us are feeling it. Glimmer and Clove curl themselves into balls while Naomi and Marvel cling closer together.

"They really need to get a room."

I snicker, "Yeah."

A swift desert wind blows and my thoughts drift. Not to my family, no. But to Undersee. Undersee, of all people. As much as I don't want to think about her, I do. I wonder what she's doing. Hopefully not another appointment. I hope she's sleeping, really sleeping, not faking it. I bet anything that if I get out of here, it's going to be awkward between us.

Oh, God, that's going to be awkward. Especially if I don't feel the same way about her.

I shake my head to get her out of there. I swear she's been in my head much more than she should be. I don't even know why either. Maybe it's because she's my mentor and she's survived the Games. Yeah. That has to be it.

I study the landscape around us. Desert to the left. Desert to the right. Cornucopia behind me. Building two hundred feet in front. Basic Hunger Games, though usually they make a much more elaborate arena, one with more excitement. Unless they have some tricks up their sleeves, but who knows? Maybe they're making the arena before the Quell bland so next years will stand out.

If I manage to get out of here, I'll have to mentor for the Quell. I wonder what it's going to be. Why am I worrying about this now, when there's a whole year before it comes?

Shaking that thought out of my head, I watch the train tracks. If there's train tracks, there must be trains coming on the way. There has to be, it's only logical. I bet the Gamemakers send the trains in at a specific time everyday just so it's on a schedule, I guess. Hope they come soon.

When the anthem plays, it shows the six people who died today. I look at the sand when it shows the boy I killed. He was from 10. I bet he had a family, people he loved, siblings, maybe a girlfriend waiting for him to come home. I ruined that. Still don't know how I feel about killing people. It sort of makes me feel nauseous, but maybe that's from not eating or drinking anything.

Finally, our shift is over and we can go to bed as Glimmer and Naomi grumble while they're forced up. I try to find the most comfortable piece of the sand dune that I can, but as soon as my head hits the sand, I'm out.

* * *

When I wake up, the first thing I notice is how hungry I am. And how thirsty I am. Do the Gamemakers expect all of us to survive without water? It's really taking the toll on everyone in our little group when Glimmer feels faint and Clove gets all snappy at everyone.

Cato and Marvel decide that we should stay by the train tracks in case a train does come by. The heat is getting to everyone already and it can't even be nine o'clock in the morning.

So, today, Clove and Marvel stay behind and the rest of us go. I honestly don't see how Naomi is going to be of any help, she didn't learn anything in training, and obviously didn't do anything in her Private Session besides seduce the Gamemakers. Why that would be interesting enough to get a nine, I don't know. She makes me sick, really. She doesn't understand that if you win the Games and then you're forced into prostitution, then you don't get out of it. I guess Undersee learned that the hard way.

We follow the train tracks that lead away from the building and our camp and hear another cannon. Person probably lost it without water and such. I know I'm getting to the point. I can survive without food for a while, I've been starving most of my life, but the water I need.

We walk around for a couple of hours, over the sand dunes, over them again, and over them more. I'm getting tired of having my feet sink into the sand, and sand blowing every where. It goes into my eyes, my mouth, and I'm pretty damn sure that I'm going to be able to build a sand castle out of the sand that comes out of my ears after this.

By noon, the sun is high in the sky and blazing down on all of us and I've sweated through my shirt. Everyone is irritable with everyone else and I'm not in the mood to talk to anyone. Every time someone grumbles something out about going a certain way, everyone replies by yelling at said person to shut up. The heat is getting to everyone.

We hear a train whistle in the distance, and we all perk up, looking around and directing our attention to the train tracks. Slowly, the plume of smoke coming from the train appears, stopping in front of the building. Quickly, we hurry to the building in the distance and it feels like forever. Finally, we get there to find Clove there too, investigating the train.

It's not very long, only a few cars, and has a few windows here and there. Quickly, I pull open a door, and we slowly go inside. We don't know what's here, we can't go to quickly or who knows what could attack us. We spread out down the train slowly, tense and more alert then we were before we were on the train. There isn't much in the cars I was assigned to check. Mostly just boxes filled with nothing. Probably just to psych us out.

When I go to the other end of the train where Glimmer and Naomi are situated, I see them rummaging through backpacks.

"What're you doing?" I ask to the back of Glimmer's head and she turns around and throws a backpack at me. I stare at it for a moment, before opening it up, and immediately pulling out the full water bottle and drinking half of it, before going through the rest of the backpack. Water, food, medicine, everything.

"So the supplies come on the train, then." Naomi says slowly.

So this is how the arena works. If you don't get to the train, then you don't survive. Maybe I have a better chance of getting home then I thought.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry if it's short. Just couldn't get it out right. Hope it's good enough for y'all c: like it? Hate it?_


	10. Chapter 10

We finish looking through the rest of the train to get most of the backpacks, and at first, I feel bad because the rest of the tributes are going to die a slow, painful death without the backpacks, but then I think of getting home. It would be better for them all to die without actually having to kill them, and then I wouldn't have it on my conscience if I get out of here.

There are seventeen backpacks, one for each of the tributes, I assume. In the backpacks, there's water, food, first aid, even sleeping bags and such. Even tents, or something what I think is a tent. It's odd that the Gamemakers are relying on the tributes getting to the train to be able to survive. I mean, a lot of them aren't going to make it. I bet that the Gamemakers are going to be kicking themselves after this idea blows up in their faces. If it does, I mean.

Once we have all the supplies from the train, we get off of it as it stays docked by the building. Cato makes the point that there could be tributes hidden in the building by now, and he makes Glimmer, Naomi and I bring the backpacks back to camp. I try not to let my irritation show. Glimmer doesn't even try to stop herself from snapping at him. I sense that she's losing it too. So, the three of us drag most of the backpacks back, Glimmer and I carry most of the bulk, while Naomi just carries three, claiming that it's too heavy and she's not cut out for it.

"I can't carry all three of these!" She complains, over and over again.

"_Shut._ _U__p_." Glimmer spits out, purposely kicking sand back in her face and Naomi complains some more. Glimmer gives me a look and I retaliate by rolling my eyes. If anything, Glimmer is the only half-sane one in this little group, while the rest of them are only focused on killing. It's clear Glimmer never trained in the Training Centers in District 1, as she has no clear talent. Marvel, Cato, and Clove have obviously trained, though. Clove with her knives, Marvel with spears, and Cato just about everything else.

By the time we get to the small camp where Marvel is, Naomi is on my last nerve. She's been complaining, and attempting to give me or Glimmer another backpack every ten feet, and keeps babbling on about something that I tuned out after about ten seconds.

"Do you _ever_ shut up?" I ask her and she giggles quietly.

"I did in my private session!" I grimace. I really didn't need to know details. Conversation forgotten, she drops the three backpacks and jumps at Marvel, who pulls her into his lap and starts kissing her passionately.

I groan and drop the backpacks I had as Glimmer does the same. "Might as well set up camp." She grumbles and I nod. So for the next hour, Glimmer and I set up the tents as Naomi and Marvel play some more tonsil hockey. Glimmer says that she's never set up a tent, and neither have I, so it takes a very long time for us to even get one up.

I figure out that I've been watching Glimmer set up a tent. She looks like Madge. Wait, no, Undersee. Did I just..? I shake my head to get the thought out of my head and drop to the ground before drinking some more water. I hate the desert. I hate the sun. I hate everything right now. Finally, Cato and Clove come back, and announce that no other tributes were in the building. When Clove gets sight of marvel and Naomi, she rolls her eyes and her fists clench.

"Can I kill her now?" She spits out, clenching one of her knives, one of the curved, lethal looking ones.

"Feel free," I grunt, "she's gonna die anyways." Cato, who I assumed would be all for killing Naomi, tells Clove to wait on that. I'm ready to kill her now. As much as I don't want her on my conscience, I want her gone. And, as much as it's frowned upon when you kill your own District Partner, people have to realize that this chick is not someone you want to keep around for longer than a couple of hours.

When we decide to take a break from the heat and disappear into some tents. Naomi tries to follow Marvel into his, Cato pulls her back roughly and shoves her into a different tent. We can hear her complaining that she's lonely.

"Is she ever going to get over herself?" Cato grumbles before disappearing into his tent as the rest of us go into ours.

I find it impossible to sleep. I fiddle with the backpack that I got. Finally, I decide to actually go through it thoroughly and see what the Gamemakers deemed important enough to put in a backpack. There's two bottles of water, both have water in them, some dried fruit and beef packs, a fist aid kit full of bandages, fever reducing pills, antiseptic, even some needle and thread for stitching. A sleeping bag, some extra socks, and some weird bottle of something are also present. I pull the top off of it and sniff it. No smell. Maybe more water? I stick a finger in the bottle and taste it. No, definitely not water. There's also a syringe. I finally put two and two together. Either this is morphling, or it's poison.

I know what morphling is. It apparently eases the pain when you're in serious pain. I think Mrs. E back home has some hidden in her cupboards for the more serious mine accidents. And as for the poison, well, that's a quick way to kill someone, or yourself. For one, you could pour the poison in the person's drink or something, or you could inject it in yourself, as a quick death. But, if you're in serious pain, you're gonna have to take your chances on using it. 50/50 chance. Either you're dead, or you're knocked out for hours, days even.

From what I've heard, an overdose of the stuff could also mean death. When Mrs. Undersee died, it wasn't exactly kept quiet. The rumor is that she died from a morphling overdose. Or, the fact that the president thought it was a great idea to kill her after Ma-Undersee refused to be prostituted. If I get asked, or well, forced, to do that too, then I don't know how it would go. I mean, I made it clear in my interview that my family was important to me. President Snow wouldn't hesitate to kill one of them if he didn't get what he wanted.

Quickly, I shake the thought out of my head and lay down on the blanket, head swirling with thoughts I don't know what to do with. Too many filled with Undersee. Not as many as I would like filled with my family. I really do wonder what they're doing right now. I'm pretty sure Vick and Rory are at school, waiting for the lunch update on the Games. Back home, they only have viewings when there's either a really big fight, or some important thing coming up. Maybe they'll have one tonight because of what we figured out about the train. I don't know.

I bet Posy is still at home with my mom. No, they're both probably doing laundry to keep the family's funds up. Posy would sometimes help her with the laundry, and now that I'm not there to hunt, I can't trade for stuff we need at the Hob. Katniss better help them through this, until I get back. If I get back, that is. There is a chance I won't, but if I do, they'll be set for life, and that's all that matters to me. Sure, I'll be an emotional wreck after the Games, but if they're fine, I'm fine. Ish.

Finally, I realize that sleep is going to be impossible and my stomach grumbles. But, I can't eat all of my food now. Have to ration it. I can survive for a while without food, so I should be good until I start passing out. Just to be save, I eat a small piece of beef and a piece of fruit. I think it's an apple slice, but I'm not sure. Doesn't taste like an apple though. Doesn't even taste like fruit, for God's sake.

I drink a sip of water before putting the bottle back in the backpack. I really have no idea what to do next. There's obviously no animals to hunt, or at least I'm not sure. There has to be some sort of animal for me to hunt. I'm going to get restless just sitting here, unable to hunt or anything. I mean, I could hunt, but there's no place that I ould hide it tributes came after me. Though I could kill them in a heartbeat with an arrow.

Shaking my head to clear the thought of killing someone, I lay down and rub my eyes. Sleeping is impossible in this arena. I can hear the whistling of the wind from outside and the sand hitting the side of the tent. The Gamemakers are planning something. Maybe a sandstorm. Maybe they'll change the arena over night. Well they've done that before and it backfired on them, so I doubt it.

It's absolutely silent outside of my tent, besides the wind and sand hitting the tent. I'm assuming the rest of my "alliance" is asleep. That is, until I hear something fall outside. I act on instinct, immediately jump up and grab my bow. otching an arrow in the bow, I silently move out of the tent to find a boy, rummaging through the supplies we left outside.

Before I know what I'm doing, the arrow releases from my hands and plunges into the boy's arm. He moved at the last second, causing the arrow to notch in his arm. He lets out a shout of pain, which hopefully wakes up the rest of the group. Marvel comes out first, holding his spear, a vicious look on his face. As much as I hate the guy, he's pretty good with a spear.

"_Wait_!" The boy shrieks as Marvel jumps at him, tackling him to the ground as Cato and Clove come out, charging at Marvel and the boy. "Wait! I can help you!" The boy gets out right before Marvel plunges his spear into his stomach.

"I.. I can help you."

"Bull. Kill him, Marvel." Clove snarls, her knives twitching in her hands.

"Wait. Maybe he can help." Glimmer muses, pulling Marvel off of him.

"How is he going to help? He's a puny fourteen year old." Cato growls, before turning to him harshly. "What district are you from?"

"T-t-three." He stutters out before regaining his composure and standing slowly, slightly shielding his stomach, as if we were going to kill him now. "I-I can deal with bombs. With the bombs that were deactivated after the countdown finished."

It clicks inside. He's asking to reset the bombs, so they'll blow up anyone who gets near them. I glance at Cato, who has his jaw clenched, but if softens after a few seconds.

"Tell us what you can do."

"I can reset the bombs and dig them up. We can bury them again around your supplies pile." The boy is probably starving, dehydrated. He just wanted a little food, or something. I would think that at this point, without food and water, that death would be the best option. Instead, he decides to bargain with his life. Yeah, that's _definitely_ the better option. I know that I would've just given up if I was from 3 and didn't know what to do in a desert.

Cato pulls Clove aside and they converse in low voices, occasionally glancing at the boy, or me. Maybe it's because I'm the outsider of the group. District 12. Normally, our tributes don't make it exactly far in the Games. We've only had three victors, some guy who's already dead, Haymitch and Undersee. Only two are living, out of the three. Maybe if I get out of here, it'll be four Victors, and three living.

But my chances of getting out are slim, I'm assuming. I mean, with four ruthless Careers surrounding me, watching my every move, sizing me up in case I make it to the final fight.

Finally, Cato and Clove come back and welcome the boy. His name is Gadget. I guess it's a District 3 name. Immediately, Cato sets us all to work, digging up the bombs before dragging them over to Gadget. He's very smart, I know that. Like Beetee, the other District 3 victor. He won his Games by wiring a motherboard throughout the arena, and then essentially burning everyone to a crisp. No one knew what had happened, until he came out of his hiding place, thin and practically dead.

Within the rest of the day, with the sun high in the air, we keep digging up all twenty-four bombs. Gadget keeps working on the bombs. He seems different. I don't know. Something about him bothers me. I don't know what.

There's something I do know, though. He's up to something. No one purposely wanders into the Career camp, unless you're asking for immediate death. No, he wants something. Something in specific. Maybe it's a chance to live longer, to get home. Maybe it's a chance at revenge. I don't know. I wonder, though.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry this took forever. I have exams this week, so I'm sorry if this is jumbled and confusing. Oh, also, I know there isn't much Madge in it yet, but as he's still in the Games and she isn't, well I don't figure she'd be there. I wish she could, but then it would defeat the purpose of having a mentor. Hope y'all enjoy! Thoughts?_


	11. Chapter 11

Gadget stays with us. Cato spares him a backpack, and leaves the few that we aren't using in the pile that's surrounded by bombs. Cato and Gadget talk in hushed voices further from the group. All of us are trying to stay cool in the desert heat. I'm going to end up getting heat exhaustion, just watch.

I've already sweated through my shirt, and it's only nine o'clock. I've been in the arena for four days now. Seven tributes have died. It's been a day since the last death. The Capitol is most likely getting restless for blood.

Marvel and Naomi disappeared into Marvel's tent about an hour ago and we haven't heard from them since. Clove walks around the trap with bombs, careful not to step in the wrong place. Glimmer's been staring at the horizon for the past twenty minutes.

The wind has been picking up in the last twelve hours. It's been getting stronger and faster. Sand is starting to blow everywhere. I'm assuming a sandstorm is coming. I think that we should go to the building for more protection from it, but I don't know whether I should speak up or not. Besides, tributes could be hiding in there.. That's what they want. They want us all to go to the building for a giant bloodbath because they know that tribtues will want to have shelter.

I'm starting to think that they want these Games over with quickly. But, then when I think about it, the Games last year were quick. They'll want to drag these on and on. Probably more than a week. Maybe two if the Capitol really hates us.

I can't just sit here all day and do nothing. I'm getting restless. Quickly, I stand up and start pacing around, slingling my quiver over my shoulder.

"I'm going to hunt." I exclaim and Glimmer looks at me.

"Hunt _what_? There's nothing here!" She grumbles at me.

"Then I'm taking a walk." I snap and walk away, my feet sinking into the sand as I travel up a sand dune. The sun is still beating down on me and it's hot and dry. I just want to get out of here, where I can have my forest back, my bow and arrows back, my district back. I just want to go home. When I reach the top of the dune, I stare off at the endless desert. Deserts can't go on forever.

An idea snaps into my head. The desert can't go on forever. It always has to end, as do arenas. There has to be an end to this area. Maybe if I can find it, I can find some oasis or something that will help me get through this. Maybe something I can use. I want to start walking now, but it has to be around elven o'clock, when the sun is highest. That's the worst time to be in the sun, from what I remember from school.

I sigh and trudge back down the dune, and then head to the building to get some relief from the sun. At the last minute, Cato decides that it would be a great idea to come with me, to see if any tributes went back in there. Really, I wasn't going to search from tributes. I just want out of this madness.

We trudge over to the building and then stop to empty our shoes of sand before going inside of the building. If possible, the giant hole looks even bigger.

"It's like their expanding it." Cato grumbles before we edge around it. "So how long should we trust Gadget before we kill him off?"

"Huh?" I start, and then answer, "Oh, I dunno. How long were you thinking?"

"At most five days. If the games are shorter, than we kill him in three. I was thinking about giving you the honors, since you found him in the first place." I swallow and then nod. "If you're up to it, I mean."

It sounds like a challenge, so I play it up. "Is that a challenge?"

"You got that right." Cato smirks and the conversation dies down for a moment, before he speaks up again. "You know Undersee from home?"

I shrug, but my shoulders have tensed up. "Everyone knows her. She won the Hunger Games."

"No, I mean like from before."

"She's the mayor's daughter. Everyone knows her." I continue, my jaw clenching slightly. I do not want to talk about her at the moment. Or any moment at that. She'll just distract me from getting home. Hell, she's already distracted me. She's already kept me up at night. She's found a way to wedge her way into my brain. God, how is it going to be if I get back? It'll be extremely awkward. Especially if she's going back and forth from the Capitol all the time. And if I am. From what she said, I'll be one of those Victors too. Anyone could.

"Nice." The topic dies down as we make our way upstairs. Upstairs, we split up to search for tributes. When I hear Cato cackle, I hurry over to where he is to find the boy from 10, with the shriveled foot. He must be fourteen, at the least.

"You wanna kill him?" He asks me, a blood-thirst glint in his eyes. He wants to, I know he does.

"You go ahead." He gives me a look but then proceeds to stab the boy. His screams echo in my ears, bouncing around my skull. Cato wipes the blood on his jacket, and then grins down at the boy still bleeding and barely breathing. I try to give him a sympathetic look, but his cannon goes off before I can.

"Come on. Let's go to the train." Slowly, I follow, dreading what's to come. I know that he can tell that I don't want to kill people. I know he knows that. And eventually, he'll want me gone. Out of the running. I really wonder what my family would do if I died. If I came home in a wooden box, dead to the world. despite the heat, goosebumps flesh on my skin just thinking about it. I don't want to die, I really don't. I just don't want to suffer the nightmares that I know will come after.

Cato and I make it to the train and lug a few of the backpacks to our camp before going back and chucking the rest down the bottomless pit. That way, people will never be able to use them. I'll be the one to fall down that thing, I'm calling it now.

When we get back to the tent, we find that Gadget is the one guarding the camp. Cato sends him to bed and leaves me on guard. I grumble in annoyance as he disappears into his tent. This is going to be a long day.

* * *

_A/N: So this is a **really** short chapter, and I'm really sorry for that, but life has been insane! Track season has started and I'm running the hardest event (400 meter dash) and it's taking a lot out of me, giving me less time to write. I'm really sorry for the wait and I hope it won't happen again!_

_Anyways, there were a few hints in this chapter, if you can catch them. Predictions?_


	12. Chapter 12

I've been stuck on guard duty for the last three hours. No one has bothered to come out and switch with me. I'm really thinking about just waking up Naomi at this point because she's been guard a grand total of one time for the few days that we've been in the arena. And even then it was literally for about five minutes until she decided that she was getting too much sun and had to go into a tent.

I take a sip out of my water bottle and lay down on the hot sand. The sun blazes down on me and our little camp. A few lone birds fly across the blue, cloudless sky. I pull my backpack underneath my head and shake some sand out of my hair. If I ever get out of this arena, I'm going to be shaking sand out of my hair until I die, and then probably after.

When I hear a swish from behind me, I turn to find Glimmer coming out of her tent.

"You wanna switch?" Thank God. I stand up and nod.

"Thanks."

Glimmer sits in the spot where I was sitting as I collapse into my tent. Now that I'm in the privacy, hell, what am I talking about. There's no privacy in this damn arena. Hell there are probably four cameras in the damn tent. Probably microscopic. I groan and throw my head back against the sand.

I hear some movement from outside my tent and I grumble and peak out to see everyone standing. I can hear Cato and Clove arguing about something.

"I say we go hunt for tributes."

"Then let's split up. This place is huge." I want to stay here, but I doubt that's going to happen. "Glimmer and Marvel, you're with me." Clove calls, as the two go to her.

"So that means that Gale and Naomi are with me." Cato says, and I groan. Of course. The one time I actually want to sleep I have to go hunt people. And I'm with Naomi. Kill me.

I stand and grab my bow and quiver and trudge over to Cato. "Grab your water, too. You," Cato says, pointing to Gadget, "Stay here and guard the camp. Use this." He chucks a spear and him and Gadget nods quickly. "And if I see that anything is different, you're gonna wish that we had killed you." I can see Gadget swallow.

"Head out." Cato growls and I roll my eyes before I follow Cato through the sand dunes.

There's a few minutes of relatively quiet until Naomi starts to complain that she's tired and her feet her.

"Naomi we're all tired. Get over yourself." I snap and Cato smirks.

Naomi complains for at least twenty more minutes until Cato finally turns around from his spot in front of us and completely blows up. "You can either shut the hell up or die now." He growls and his eyes narrow. Naomi looks pretty scared actually. I'd be scared too. Cato menacing and he could snap her neck in a heartbeat if he wanted too. He probably does right now.

She finally quiets herself. She doesn't say a word the rest of the trip. Cato tells us that we should check out the building even though it's halfway across the desert. I swallow my frustration and follow him. By the time we're halfway to the building, I've sweated through my shirt and I'm so done with everything.

When we finally get to the building, I almost fall down the pit. It's getting bigger and deeper. Cato kicks another rock down it. "It's getting bigger."

"No shit." I reply and he sends me a glare. Naomi inches around the pit and climbs the stairs. Not even a minute later we hear a scream. And then a cannon. She skips down the stairs humming some tune.

"Who was that?"

"Girl from 11 I think." I swallow thickly. She obviously did not get out of the building like I was trying to tell her. I still can't believe twelve year olds have to fight. None of them have ever won this thing. The youngest was Finnick Odair when he was fourteen.

Cato nods and hurries upstairs to look at the girl's body. I stay downstairs. Honestly I don't want to see it. I don't want to see anything that has to do with death. it just really doesn't sit well with me. When Cato finally comes back down, he motions for us to follow him out of the building and then we keep walking. The hovercraft appears from nowhere and picks the girl up. She probably had siblings. Ones who loved her. Parents too. A whole family who had to hope that she would find a way home.

I turn away from the sight and follow Cato and Naomi through the desert. The wind is really picking up now. Sand is blowing everywhere and it keeps getting in my eyes. I think I'm allergic to sand.

Back at the camp, Clove approaches us and asks who the cannon was for. I immediately vanish into my tent and pass out.

* * *

When I wake, it's full blown chaos outside. There's a sandstorm coming and the rest of my group is desperately trying to attach everything to the ground with the stakes and stuff. We move all of the tents closer to one another. Naomi demands that her tent is in the middle of everyone's so she has to most protection and we all groan, including Marvel. I get the feeling that she's even getting on his nerves too. Everyone's nerves are shot at this point and we're not even down to the last ten people.

Finally we get the tents set up with no one's tent in the middle. Naomi complains about how there's sand in her eyes and how she can't see anything. My hands tighten on my bow. I'm getting very irritated. I'll have to talk to Cato about making her death look like an 'accident' because I can't stand her. I don't know how Marvel deals with her full time.

The wind picks up greatly and we all scramble to add extra weights down to the ends up the tents. Naomi scrambles to get _into_ her tent.

"Can we please kill her?" Clove grumbles under her breath to Cato and he shakes his head.

"Not now. It'd look suspicious for a Career this early in the Games to die."

"But she's not really a Career!" Clove argues and Cato shakes his head.

"I know. But not now." Cato finally says as the cloud of sand descends over us. Once back in my tent, I can finally just relax. I don't have to put on a show for the Careers. Don't have to make it look like I want to be here. I think about the young girl that died earlier. It's cruel, really. She was only twelve. And she was so small.

Then, I think about my family. About how Rory and Vick better be keeping Posy entertained and not watching this. I hope Posy is just being her carefree self. I wonder what my mother is doing. Probably washing clothes until her hands are raw, just to keep the family going. Katniss should be bringing food to them. When I get home, I won't have to worry about them going to bed hungry. They'll be full and content.

Outside, the wind howls and sand crashes against the side of the tent. It's a miracle that the tents are staying down. I bet the other tributes are having a hell of a lot of fun out there. I can only imagine what's going on in their heads right now. Hell I don't even know what's going on in my head.

I rub my eyes to get the sand out of them and roll over onto my side. There's nothing to do here. The Capitol must think so too, I mean, come on it's a desert. There's nothing interesting here, unless they have something big planned. Shit, they probably do and it'll affect everyone here. I grumble and rub my face as well. I just want to get the hell out of this arena.

I reach across the small tent and grab my backpack. Might as well eat something if I'm stuck in the tent for a while. I grab a piece of jerky and bite into it, tearing it with my teeth. Then I devour the fruit. Being from the Seam, I can survive on little to no food. Back home, I'd give the other kids my meal and I'd be fine with it. So surviving on no food here is easy, while the people who have been better off all of their lives are having trouble.

Shuffling through the backpack again, I grab the bottle of the dark liquid. I still don't know what it is. Maybe I won't have to use it, whatever it is. At first I thought it was morphling, which can knock someone out for several hours and can no pain. Then, I thought it was poison. That's a good possibility. I'll have to figure out when I'll need it.

All of the sudden, there's a thud on the ground outside. Slowly, I crawl out and squint to see what it is. It's a parachute. And a big one, too. I frown. I don't exactly need anything right now. I grab it and then hurry back into the tent. When I open the parachute, there's a small note and then some sort of gun.

I open the note and read it quickly.

_This should help._

It doesn't have a name, but I know it's from Undersee. It's easy to figure it out when I realize what the gun is. It's a dart-gun. And with darts, there have to be some sort of substance to attack the person's immune system. To override it. Overdose it. Destroy it.

My eyes widen when I come to realization. I jump back to my bag and pull out the vile of the substance. Everything clicks now. It's poison. And poison and darts can mean one thing. I have poisonous darts. With these, I can take out everyone quickly and discreetly. And no one else will know. Maybe they'll think that the heat is just getting to them. I can go home with these.

* * *

_A/N: Sorry this took a while. I know where I can to go with this, but can't get there yet. Anyways, things in the Games will be picking up now. Hopefully y'all like where it ends up!_


End file.
